Can anyone confirm this?

[Tracy E Flynn]

Here is a little more light on the subject, Jr. speaks after arraignment and a little more

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D5aq9Xrkt86Y&h=da07d269a00e6649dbf7e36c13267605

[Arnie Fenner]

Actually...none of this really sheds light on anything, unless it's that there's conflict among the Frazettas. There is one contradiction after the other as each side weighs in (sometimes directly, sometimes through associates or fans) with their own version of events, justifications, and accusations. There is no "Ah HA!" moment (at least not yet) and any "evidence" so far only contributes to the confusion and raises even more questions. As I mentioned earlier, none of us can or should profess to "know" exactly what's going on behind the Frazettas' closed doors, regardless of anything we've read, been told, or even seen in video snippets. The latest reports would seem to indicate that actual ownership of Frank's art was transferred to an LLC, with all four children as beneficiaries:

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.d ... e=printart

The only thing we can do is...wait and see what happens. When all is said and done, I hope everything turns out well in the end for the entire Frazetta family.

In the meantime, a chapter has ended: the East Stroudsburg Museum is closed, reportedly for good. The paintings are no longer there. I was glad for the opportunity to watch it being built, happy for the chance to see so much of the art that inspired me as a kid exhibited under one roof. Let's hope others will have the chance to do likewise somewhere, sometime again in the not-to-distant future.

[scott]

Hard to describe how sad it is to see this happening. Especially so soon after Ellie's death. I really hope they can all work this out someway although I'm not sure how at this point. I feel so bad for Frank. This has to be tearing him up and it's the last thing he needs at this point in his life.

[Ray Cuthbert]

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.d ... 1/NEWS0938

<<By HOWARD FRANK
and ANDREW SCOTT
Pocono Record Writers
December 17, 2009 MARSHALLS CREEK — A new witness surfaced Wednesday in the Frazetta art theft case, claiming legendary fantasy artist Frank Frazetta signed a notarized letter two weeks ago authorizing his son Frank Jr. to secure the artwork.

But though the existence of this letter would support the son's contention that he was trying to protect the paintings he is accused of stealing, the letter may not be enough to clear him.

Speaking to reporters outside a Marshalls Creek court office, notary Adeline Bianco of Shirley Katz Insurance and A&S Katz said artist Frank Frazetta, 81, came to her office Nov. 30 and signed a document authorizing his son Alfonso Frank Frazetta, known as Frank Jr., to secure the artist's paintings "by any means possible."

Bianco notarized the document and returned it to Frank Sr. She also said she revoked a power-of-attorney held by the artist's other three children, Bill Frazetta of East Stroudsburg and sisters Holly Taylor and Heidi Gravin, both of Florida.

Frank Jr. was charged Dec. 9 with stealing 90 of his father's paintings housed in the family museum near Marshalls Creek. He contends he was trying to inventory and secure the paintings for his father and that he had to use a backhoe to gain entry to the museum because he had chained the doors a few days prior.

The 90 paintings he is accused of stealing are valued at $20 million and are now with the rest of the Frazetta collection in a more secure location.

Frank Jr. was still in Monroe County Correctional Facility as of the end of the business day Wednesday. Marshalls Creek Magisterial District Judge Brian Germano lowered Frank Jr.'s bail from $500,000 to $50,000 on condition that Frank Jr. not leave the area, avoid contact with his siblings and father and stay away from the family museum.

Frank Jr.'s preliminary hearing, scheduled for Wednesday before Germano, had to be continued due to conflicts in attorneys' schedules. No new hearing date has been set.

After the hearing, Frank Jr. told reporters he showed the notarized document to police responding to a burglar alarm at the museum on the day of the alleged theft. The police confiscated the document and arrested him.

First Assistant District Attorney Michael Mancuso and defense attorney Axel Jones are awaiting copies of the notarized letter and other documents from Boston attorney Kerry Ryan, who represents the limited liability company (LLC) that now owns Frank Sr.'s artwork.

The ailing Frank Sr. set up the LLC, naming his children as beneficiaries, and transferred ownership of his paintings to that company, said his attorney, Gerard Geiger of Stroudsburg.

This means the artist no longer owns his paintings, and thus did not have the authority to give Frank Jr. permission to move them, which makes the notarized letter irrelevant, Mancuso said after Wednesday's court appearance.


And though the LLC names all four of Frank Sr.'s children as beneficiaries, Frank Jr. is the only one of the four who's not an LLC director, Geiger said. This means only Frank Jr.'s siblings can approve anything being done with the paintings, and none of them have said they gave him permission to move the paintings.

"There would be testimony by other directors of the company that he (Frank Jr.) doesn't have the right to go in there (the museum)," Mancuso said.

The paintings are at the center of a family squabble over control of the artist's work, valued at $100 million. Frank Jr. said he ran the artist's Web site that sold reproductions of Frank Sr.'s paintings, splitting the profits evenly with his father.

Frank Jr. told reporters his siblings "were all offered opportunities to have their own Web sites. They don't want to work. They just want to cash out."

But when their mother, Ellie, died five months ago, the fighting between siblings began.

"The whole problem was a lot of jealousy, a lot of envy, because my mom wanted me to run the business," Frank Jr. said.

Frank Jr. said he had reason to be concerned for his father's paintings.

"All the art that was in my dad's house was missing," he said.

And he denied stealing the 90 paintings he removed from the museum.

"Stolen art is worth nothing," he said. "I was just protecting it."

Frank Jr.'s family, including wife Lori Frazetta and twins Frank and William, 17, were at Wednesday's hearing.


"I didn't want my boys to be here, but they needed to be here for him," Lori Frazetta said. "He's a great father."

Frankie, the "older" twin, said, "I was excited to see him because it was a week since I'd seen him last. He smiled and waved, with what he could with the handcuffs on."

Twin brother William said their 9-year-old twin sisters have not been damaged by their father's ordeal.

"They're probably too young," he said.

Bill Frazetta, who owns Frazetta's Fantasy Costumes in East Stroudsburg, said his sisters wanted to be at the hearing.

"They're pissed," he said.

Reacting to the reduced bail, Bill Frazetta was content to let the system run its course.

"At this point in time, they are the ones in charge. You have to accept it," he said.

But still, he appeared torn by the proceedings.

"It's still my brother," he said.

He said his father is angry.

"It's painful for any father to see that. But somehow, we hope we can all work something out, out of court. That's what our intentions are. You have to try," he said.


Also at the hearing was Frank Jr.'s family pastor, the Rev. John Harding of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in East Stroudsburg.

"The family just wishes it would all go away. It's sad that it is this way," Harding said.

Other new information that came out Wednesday involves a prospective witness claiming Frank Jr. may have worn a ski mask while removing the paintings from the museum, Mancuso said.

"It's a ski cap," Lori Frazetta said. "It's like a skiing thing. It does have an attachment that goes over your mouth."

Frank Jr. wore it for health reasons, she said.

"He has bad lungs," she said. "When he goes out in the cold, he has to wear something over his mouth. He can't breathe the cold air. It's a beanie cap."

She said the police returned the cap to her Wednesday.

The case against Frank Jr. will partially depend on witness testimony, a dicey proposition when there's a family dispute.

"I've been around long enough to know the cooperation of witnesses will be very important in this case, and their cooperation will be seriously considered in terms of how willing we are to proceed," Mancuso said.

And while he's fully prepared to prosecute the case, Mancuso isn't convinced it belongs in court.

He said, "It's an intra-family dispute that really should be resolved between them if possible.">>

[Bakerman]

Just found this news:

STROUDSBURG, Pa. — World-renowned artist Frank Frazetta Sr. spoke publicly for the first time since his family feud went public in December 2009 — and he’s mad.
Mad at the son who’s charged with trying to steal $20 million worth of his paintings — his life’s work. Frank Sr. said he never gave Frank Frazetta Jr. permission to take his paintings.
In an exclusive interview with the Pocono Record, Frank Sr. talked Tuesday from his home in Boca Grande, an island off the southwest coast of Florida. Despite claims to the contrary, he was lucid and feisty just what you’d expect from an 82-year-old Italian grandfather from Brooklyn.
And Frank Sr. got personal.

"My son is an alien," he said. "There’s no telling what he’ll do. He’s been like that for, I don’t know, how many years. We played baseball in the old days. He always chose the opposite side from me."
He spoke freely, in an unguarded manner. But not a previous stroke nor his thick New York City accent could conceal his anger over the entire affair.
Frank Frazetta Sr. is one of the world’s best known fantasy artists his artwork has adorned record albums, movie posters, novels and comic books. His style and sword-and-sorcery themes make his work instantly recognizable.

And until recently he’s called the Poconos his home, living on a Marshalls Creek estate that includes a museum of the artist’s work and a home owned by his oldest son and his family.
Alfonso Frank Frazetta, known as Frank Jr., was arrested in December after police discovered he’d allegedly broken into the family museum using a backhoe and removed about 90 works of art painted by his father.
Frank Jr., wearing a ski mask at the time of his arrest, said he had his father’s permission to protect the art from other family members. Frank Jr. has three siblings: Bill Frazetta of Stroudsburg, owner of Frazetta’s Fantasy Costumes in East Stroudsburg, and Heidi Grabin and Holly Frazetta of Florida. At 52, Frank Jr. is the eldest, and has been feuding with his three siblings since their mother died in 2009.
Despite Frank Jr.’s claims that his father gave the go-ahead to secure the paintings, prosecutors have said that decisions regarding the artwork were the legal responsibility of Frank Jr.’s other three siblings exclusively.
According to family attorneys, the paintings belong to a corporation called Frazetta Properties LLC, of which Bill Frazetta and his two sisters share sole management. The LLC is owned by Frank Sr., and was formed for estate planning purposes.
At the heart of the criminal case against Frank Jr. is whether his father ever gave his son the OK to secure the artwork by any means necessary, as Frank Jr. claimed.
"None whatsoever. I certainly didn’t. Absolutely not. That’s just a lie that’s been passed around," Frank Sr. about the question of permission.
And when the artist was asked if he ever told a Marshalls Creek notary he wanted Frank Jr. to protect his paintings because his other kids were trying to steal from him, as Frank Jr. claimed, Frank Sr. said, "Oh God. Oh my God. No."
The break-in at the museum happened just a few days after Frank Sr. left Pennsylvania to stay at his Florida home in early December 2009. Frank Sr. reacted with disgust to the museum break-in.
"Right through the door. He broke it. My God. As soon as he thought I was gone, he crashed the place," he said.

Frank Sr. said he didn’t understand why his son thought he had permission to take his paintings. But he doesn’t think Frank Jr. was acting in his best interests, as the son has claimed.
"No, absolutely not. I don’t know what the hell he was doing," Frank Sr. said.
Frank Jr. and his wife, Lori Frazetta, have claimed Frank Sr. was being controlled by the other three siblings, and held against his will in Florida.
Frank Sr. denied the accusation.
"I’m in my own home," he said. "I’m the only one who lives here. Yes, absolutely I’m under my own free will. My daughters don’t tell me what to do. I’m a man of my own word."

Frank Jr. awaits trial in Monroe County Court on charges of burglary, theft by unlawful taking and criminal trespass. But with his son’s fate in the balance, Frank Sr. only wishes for one thing: "I would like to see them all shut up and be pals like they once were."
Frank Jr. is free on $50,000 bail with the stipulation that he not discuss the case or any of the family feud with his father. But if the senior Frazetta could say one thing to his son, what would it be?
"I’d send a cease and desist. He’s got one of my paintings. No name, a pretty girl running on a sandy beach. He took it from the house. It really was unfinished," Frank Sr. said.
Frank Sr. spends his days going to ball games, enjoying his surroundings and spending time with his family. "I like it here. It’s beautiful," he said.
And he still paints — he’s got a bunch of paintings he started but never finished. But he also reads. And he’s become aware of many of the accusations Frank Jr.’s made against his children. He’d like to straighten that out.
"Don’t you believe anything he tells you. He’s full of beans. He wants to run the museum by himself. He wants the whole thing to himself. What does he think — I’m dead? He’s really gone, he’s gone haywire," Frank Sr. said.
He also believes the feud has left a blotch on his reputation as an artist.
"As a matter of fact, I do. I really do. My daughters are both upset. I can’t even face it. I don’t know what the heck is going on. It’s insane. Nothing more nothing less," he said.
In response, Lori Frazetta, wife of Frank Frazetta Jr. said, "We are confident the truth will be revealed, and we are looking forward to the safe return of Frank Sr., back to Pa. soon."

[Bakerman]

Looks like all has been resolved.