Mystery of why valuable Andy Warhol artwork turned up in LA pawn shop is solved

A Los Angeles pawn shop owner has confessed to knowingly buying and attempting to sell a stolen Andy Warhol piece worth $175,000. 

Glenn Bednarsh, 58, of Farmington, Michigan, and formerly of Beverly Hills, pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents during their investigation into the theft of a Warhol trial proof depicting Soviet Union leader Vladimir Lenin.

Bednarsh purchased the coveted piece, which an unknown culprit snatched from an LA home, for just $6,000 in February 2021. 

The scheming pawn shop owner then tried to resell the artwork to a Dallas-based auction house, calling on co-conspirator Brian Light, 58, of Hudson, Ohio, to help arrange the transaction. 

In March 2021, Bednarsh delivered the art-pop proof to a Beverly Hills office of the Dallas auction house to be shipped off to Texas. 

Once the piece arrived, an employee called a West Hollywood gallery, assumed to be the Revolver Gallery, for an opinion on it. 

The Revolver Gallery specializes in the work of the iconic artist. The LA-based exhibition features over 400 Warhol pieces in its collection – the most extensive gallery-owned collection worldwide.  

A gallery employee immediately recognized the piece, proof number 44 out of the just 46 in existence.

Glenn Bednarsh, 58,pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents during their investigation into the convoluted theft of a Warhol trial proof depicting Soviet Union leader Vladimir Lenin (pictured)

The Revolver Gallery specializes in the work of the iconic artist. The LA-based exhibition features over 400 Warhol (pictured) pieces in its collection

The original buyers, who had the proof stolen from their home, had purchased it from that gallery, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). 

The FBI got involved shortly after the gallery sounded the alarm, questioning Light about where he obtained the piece. 

Light lied to investigators at first, telling them he bought the highly valued portrait at a Culver City, California, garage sale for $18,000. He even provided a fraudulent receipt. 

But he ultimately pleaded guilty to one count of interstate transportation of stolen goods last November and is now awaiting sentencing. 

Bednarsh had also been caught lying to authorities about the stolen item at least twice, according to the DOJ. 

When asked about how the piece ended up at his pawnshop, Bednarsh lied to FBI agents, according to the DOJ, saying that Light ‘asked him to store the Warhol Lenin trial proof for him and that he agreed to do so out of friendship and not for financial gain.’ 

According to his plea agreement, reviewed by the Orange County Register, he admitted this claim was false on Tuesday. His sentencing is set for January 6.

While the proof has been found and the two conspirers have been held accountable, the FBI is still investigating who originally stole it. 

The stolen Lenin print is just one of many pinched Warhol prints (pictured: inside the West Hollywood Revolver Gallery)

While the proof has been found and the two not-so-clever conspirers have been held accountable, the FBI is still investigating who originally stole it (pictured: a woman looking at Warhol pieces, including two depicting Lenin, at a UK exhibit) 

The Lenin print is just one of many stolen Warhol prints.

In 2016, seven of 10 Andy Warhol prints from the Campbell Soup collection were stolen from the Springfield Art Museum in Missouri. They were each valued at approximately $500,000.

In 2024, a print of Warhol’s Mao Zedong was stolen from Orange Coast College in California. The print was reportedly gifted to the school in 2020 and is worth $50,000.