Detectives check authenticity of stolen Rembrandt

Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore told the Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/qNxftU ) that investigators won't return the pen-and-ink drawing until they can verify it was the work of the Dutch master. He says the Linearis Institute has yet to provide proof of ownership of the piece, which it claims to be worth $250,000.

The institute was hosting an auction at Marina del Rey when the artwork was reported stolen on Aug. 13. It mysteriously surfaced two days later at a church in the San Fernando Valley.

The Times says several experts on Rembrandt's work were unfamiliar with the piece called "The Judgment," which the institute said was completed around 1655 and signed on the back by Rembrandt van Rijn.