and looked like policemen and buzzed them into the museum. and one of them came right over to my desk. and one of them kind of stood in the alcove right there, looking around. it didn t seem particularly odd to me, and he came up to me and the one guy, they asked me if i was alone. i said that no, my partner was off doing a round. i said get him down here. i called him on the radio. within seconds, rick s partner joined him at the security desk. the cop that was dealing with me turned to me and said don t i know you? don t i recognize you? i think there s a warrant out for your arrest. can you step out from behind the desk? and i m sitting there and i looked the way i looked. i don t look substantially
the panic button. they were probably waiting to see if the cops were going to show up. according to the fbi, nearly nine of every ten museum heists have an inside component. rick abath, the guard who left the thieves in was interrogated for days. he also took lie detector tests. he was never charged with anything. and when we talked with him, he maintained he had nothing to do with the heist. and what about the regular night watchman who called in sick that night? rick remembers after he buzzed the thieves into the museum, they asked him if he was alone. i wonder if that are you here alone? there were provisions for a single guard to be here. i wonder if are you here alone meant did they get anybody to come in? but i don t know. but that night watchman, the one who called in sick, was never charged, either. in fact, no museum employee has ever been charged with anything
apparently, there was a half hour between 20 minutes between when they tied us up and when they actually headed into the gallery. and i ve seen a lot of people questioning well, what were they doing? they were probably waiting to see if i did press the panic button. they were probably waiting to see if the cops were going to show up. according to the f.b.i., nearly nine of every ten museum heists have an inside component. rick abbot, the guard who left the thieves in was interrogated for days. he also took lie detector tests. he was never charged with anything. and when we talked with him, he maintained he had nothing to do with the heist. and what about the regular night watchman who called in sick that night? rick remembers after he buzzed the thieves into the museum, they asked him if he was alone. i wonder if that are you
but 13 of the greatest works of art, worth about half a billion dollars, were missing. rick says he just remembers waiting and waiting and waiting. police found him the next morning. the police came around the corner with flashlights and the guy seemed surprised and screamed out, whoa, we ve got another one. and i was just, like, coming off the box. my hands had fallen asleep a long time ago. reporter: rick was relieved to be found and to be alive. but he knew almost immediately that he was a suspect. i knew i was. i mean, i opened up the door, you know. i mean, once i sat down with the f.b.i., i think the first thing i said was what do you want to know? because i knew. i mean, well, i m the guy who opened up the door, they re obviously going to be looking at ne. the f.b.i. certainly was looking at him. was it an inside job?
they entered? the thieves must have known it was there. and must have known where it was hooked up to. because before they left the museum, they made one last move to be sure nobody ever recognized them. it was a point where they kicked open a door, pried open a door, broke it pretty badly and took the video tape we had, the only evidence of what they looked like, from the security director s office. reporter: at 2:41 a.m., the doors of the museum opens and closes. and then opens and closes again four minutes later. it must have taken the thieves those two trips in and out to load up the art. then, just as suddenly as they arrived, the thieves were gone. once they leave, they re never heard from again. reporter: rick abbot s fear that the thieves were going to burn down the museum prove to be unfounded. the museum was left largely unharmed.