Forgery in Baton Rouge

Michael Kunzelman of the Associated Press is reporting on an elderly couple in Baton Rouge, LA who may have been involved in selling forgeries to collectors and dealers since the 1970's. The main forgeries appear to be works by Clementine Hunter. The couple,William Toye and Beryl Ann Toye deny selling forgeries, and claim the FBI has confiscated documents that prove their innocence.  William Toye was suspected of art forgery in the 1970's but never prosecuted. Hunter, who died in 1988 at the age of 101 is known to have created thousands of paintings. Her works once selling for hundreds can now command tens of thousands.

The FBI's probe has expanded beyond Louisiana. In January, an FBI agent took photographs of Hunter paintings at the Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota. The paintings were a gift from a donor who had lived in the area. Lyndel King, the Weisman's director, said FBI Special Agent Randolph Deaton IV informed the museum in March that five of its 38 Hunter paintings may be forgeries.

During an interview at their home this week, the Toyes denied creating or selling any forgeries.

"Once they leave our hands, we have no control over what happens to them," Beryl Ann Toye said. "We had the real ones, and everyone else was faking them."

The Toyes said FBI agents seized records that can prove their innocence.

"I didn't confess anything because I didn't do anything," William Toye said.

The couple also is suspected of using an intermediary, Robert Edwin Lucky Jr., to sell forged paintings, Deaton wrote in court documents. Lucky told the FBI he met the Toyes about 10 years ago and has sold up to 100 paintings he obtained from them.

The FBI said Lucky learned from experts in Hunter's works that the Toyes' paintings were forgeries but continued to sell them, an allegation Lucky denies.

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