A con artist in Germany has been sentenced to probation after he replaced several paintings with fake ones, which he later sold to buy himself a Rolls Royce.

The 30-year-old museum employee of the German Museum in the city of Munich, Bavaria State, Germany, was sentenced to one year and nine months of probation on Monday, 11th September.

The court also ordered him to pay more than EUR 60,000 (GBP 52,022) in compensation after he replaced several paintings from a storage room with forgeries, which he later auctioned to fund a luxurious lifestyle.

As a technical employee, the defendant had access to the museum depot, where he worked from May 2016 to April 2018.

Court judges claimed that the first painting he switched with a forged one was German painter and sculptor Franz von Stuck’s ‘Das Maerchen vom Froschkoenig’ (The Fairy Tale of the Frog King).

Pretending that the piece he stole had belonged to his great-grandparents or grandparents, he then offered the original for auction at an auction house in Munich.

The Munich district court said in a statement obtained by Newsflash: “The painting was auctioned to a gallery in Switzerland for EUR 70,000 [GBP 60,674].

“The defendant received EUR 49,127.40 [GBP 42,582.26] in cash after deducting the auction costs.”

The conman also stole the paintings ‘Die Weinpruefung’ (Tasting the Wine) by Eduard von Gruetzner and ‘Zwei Maedchen beim Holzsammeln im Gebirge’ (Two Girls Gathering Wood in the Mountains) by Franz von Defregger from the depot.

The court said: “He had one of the paintings auctioned off, and sold the other one directly to the auction house.

“For this, EUR 4,490.50 [GBP 3,892.72] was paid out to the defendant in the first case and EUR 7,000 [GBP 6,068.16] in the second case.”

Munich judges continued: “In a separate case, the defendant stole the painting ‘Dirndl’ [Young Woman] by Franz von Defregger from the museum’s storage and tried to have it auctioned off at another Munich auction house.

“The painting was not auctioned due to a lack of appropriate bids.”

The 30-year-old reportedly collected a total of EUR 60,617 [GBP 52,554] for the paintings which he later spread across a portfolio of projects together with his own legal income to become debt-free, buy a flat and invest in luxuries like expensive watches, and even a Rolls Royce.

In court, the man confessed to the crimes and showed genuine remorse, the court claimed.

It said: “He said he acted without thinking. He can no longer explain his behaviour today.

“The defendant shamelessly exploited the opportunity to access the storage rooms in the employer’s buildings and sold valuable cultural assets in order to secure an exclusive standard of living for himself and to show off.”

He was found guilty of three completed and one attempted case of illegally selling cultural property.