Officials: Globetrekking Ex-Art Gallery Owner Gets 14 Months

A Clayton man who once owned a St. Louis art gallery has been sentenced to more than a year in prison after evading law-enforcement officials over a five-year period. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri made the announcement Friday afternoon in a news release.

Brent Farris, 49, formerly owned Farris Gallery. He was sentenced to 14 months in prison before U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry. The sentence will run consecutive to a 20-month sentence he already is serving for one count of bankruptcy fraud.

The case began in 2004. At that time, Farris admitted to having "transferred ownership of an oil painting to another person, and then had the person auction the painting at Christie's in New York City, in order to conceal the proceeds in the bankruptcy" in 2002, the release states.

As part of the case, Farris had been ordered to pay $300,000 in restitution. He was released on bond.

When officials told him to begin serving his sentence, the release states, he fled the country. U.S. Marshals tracked him through more than a dozen countries on three continents for five years.

An indictment filed in October states that Farris, "having been directed to surrender at the Federal Detention Center at Oakdale, Louisiana on June 24, 2005, and having agreed to report as directed, did knowingly and willfully fail to surrender for service of sentence…" A copy of the indictment is attached to this article.

During his time abroad, Farris is suspected of having obtained a false British passport, of having used the passport to live and work in China, and of having attempted to travel through Asia and Europe outside the watch of officials, the attorney's office stated in the release.

Italian authorities detained Farris in Rome in 2009 in cooperation with U.S. officials, the release states. He was held in prison and later received house arrest.

Before the U.S. could extradite Farris, the release states, he again fled. Mexican officials detained him in 2010 in Guadalajara, at which time he was deported and put in U.S. custody.

"The Marshal's Service deserves a tremendous amount of credit for their perseverance and tenacity in the pursuit of Mr. Farris," U.S. Attorney Rich Callahan stated in the release.

A sentencing proceedings document states that the court recommended that Farris be "housed in a medical facility within the Bureau of Prisons." A copy of the document is attached to the article.

Documents were obtained using the online service Public Access to Court Electronic Records.