The man who claimed to be artist Luc Sonnet, also known as Richard Carl Grossman, convicted on federal fraud charges.
- Luc Sonnet on digital art
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Art of the Con
"I'm trying to start a new life here, an honest life without any lies," he had said, and blamed a New York art promoter - whom he refused to name - for concocting the legend of "Luc Sonnet."
Three weeks later, the Potomac News ran a toned-down profile. While it made no mention of Picasso, France or Kate Moss, it included questionable Sonnet claims.
Like his athletic prowess.
"I can still throw a 50-yard pass through the eye of a needle," he was quoted as saying.
The paper took something else on faith.
"Sonnet [said] that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia wanted to do a solo show based on the 2005 piece, 'Angels in Flight,' but it didn't happen because of a lack of time," the story said.
This was news to archdiocese spokesman Matthew Gambino, who could locate no evidence of such a plan.
How Sonnet had landed in Dumfries, the story did not say. Nor did it mention his new muse, in whose house he was holding forth.
An artist's life
Sandy Birdsong did not respond to phone or e-mail messages left by The Inquirer at the FBI Academy. An e-mail sent to her home elicited this: "Thank you very much for your concern, but I am respectfully requesting that you please stop contacting me."
The FBI does not forbid employees from living with convicted felons, said Bill Carter, a spokesman. But roommates who are not immediate family members or FBI colleagues must be reported to the bureau for a background check.
The FBI would not say if that was done when Grossman moved in with Birdsong. "I can't release information on any FBI employee that works here," Quantico spokesman Kurt Crawford wrote on Nov. 15 in response to a list of e-mailed questions.
A few days later, however, Grossman was gone from Birdsong's house.
In the cell-phone interview Tuesday, he confirmed he had moved, but would not disclose where.
"I'm just going to be living my life as an artist," he said, "and I'm not going to mislead anyone anymore."
Asked why he had left Virginia, he said, "Because I was ashamed."
Of what?
"Of my past," he said. "You made it so."
In an hour-long discourse ranging from anger to denial to woe, Grossman said he had suffered enough for his lies.
"Can't you leave me alone and let me live my life?" he said.
