By AMY WESTFELDT
The Associated Press
6/17/03 3:06 PM

NEW YORK (AP) -- Four Rikers Island jail officials were charged Tuesday with stealing a Salvador Dali sketch from a locked display case during a fire drill.

The men, two assistant deputy wardens and two corrections officers, were charged with grand larceny and could get up to 15 years in prison.

The untitled work, depicting the crucifixion in ink and pencil, was removed from the lobby of the city jail and replaced with a copy during an unscheduled fire drill staged by the defendants at midnight on March 1, authorities said.

A 1985 appraisal concluded it was worth at least $175,000, a corrections official has said, but an art expert told The New York Times in 2001 that it was worth at least three times that.

Dali gave the sketch to the jail in 1965 after canceling a visit. At the bottom of the drawing is a message from Dali, who was never known for correct spelling: "For the inmates dinning room on Rikers Island. Dali."

The sketch was displayed in the jail's dining room for 16 years before being moved to the lobby, where only officers and visitors are allowed.

"Who knew that it might have been safer left in the cafeteria?" said Rose Gill Hearn, commissioner of the city Department of Investigation.