Returned artist pleads not guilty before prosecutors

Newport Beach artist Michael Schofield pleaded not guilty to two counts of grand theft and one count of passing checks with insufficient funds Wednesday at Newport Beach Harbor Justice Center, prosecutors said.

Schofield was arrested Feb. 1 in Dallas on a $50,000 warrant from Newport Beach authorities thanks to an anonymous tip. He had been on the run since the middle of January when police first began investigating him, police said.

Orange County sheriff’s investigators brought Schofield back to Orange County Feb. 13. He faces four years and four months in prison if convicted of all the charges, prosecutors said.

Schofield used someone else’s Picasso sketch valued at $200,000 as collateral for a $40,000 loan from a Newport Beach real estate broker, police said. He then stole the painting back, detectives said. Schofield then tried to repay part of the debt with a $5,000 check that bounced, prosecutors said.

Schofield is scheduled to appear in court again Feb. 28, and his preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 4.

— Joseph Serna