Olga Dogaru, the mother of one of the art thieves who hit a Dutch museum last October, now says the story about burning the art was just a ruse. Last week, a report seemed to confirm that the ashes found in her stove were consistent with paintings from the periods. However, her lawyer insists it was all a lie. And for good reason, burning the paintings is a far more serious crime than helping her son, according to the New York Times:

Standing alongside her son, Radu, 29, who has admitted stealing the paintings last October from the Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam, Mrs. Dogaru told a panel of three judges that her earlier account of destorying the works in a stove at her house in the tiny village of Carcaliu was untrue. “I did not burn them,” she said in a soft voice.[…]  The most serious charge against Mrs. Dogaru arose from her earlier claim to have destroyed the artworks, which are valued at tens of millions of dollars. Under Romanian law, the crime of “destruction with very serious consequences,” one of three charges against Mrs. Dogaru, carries a sentence of 3 to 10 years — far longer than the punishment for her two other alleged crimes, “supporting a criminal group” and “assisting criminals.”

Romanian Says Her Tale of Burning Art Treasures Was a Lie (NY Times)