SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -Deputies say the head of the organization in charge of raising money for the county library system stole a $50,000 painting from the library’s main branch and sold it for $200 at a garage sale.

Thomas P. Dydyk, executive director of Friends of the Central Library, pleaded not guilty Saturday to a felony count of third-degree grand larceny. He was released on his own recognizance.

Sometime in October, Dydyk removed a painting by John Dodgson Barrow called “Ben Porter” from a vacant office in the Onondaga County library’s main building in downtown Syracuse, said Deputy William Gabriel, a spokesman for the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Department.

This past week, Dydyk allegedly sold the painting to the owner of a Skaneateles antiques shop, who recognized it as a valuable Barrow work, Gabriel said.

The shop owner took the painting to an appraiser, who confirmed it was an original Barrow painting that had been donated to the library nearly 100 years ago. The appraiser notified library officials Thursday that he had the painting.

Barrow was a landscape painter of the second generation of the Hudson River School. He grew up in England and moved to the United States in 1843. He ran a bookstore in Skaneateles until 1856, when he established himself as a painter. He died in 1907.

Dydyk, 52, of Syracuse, who worked as a staffer for the Onondaga County Legislature for nearly two decades, has been the library’s development director since 1998. In that role, he coordinates the organization’s primary fund-raiser, the Rosamond Gifford Lecture Series, which draws top-shelf authors to Syracuse.

Library officials said they would decide this week if Dydyk will be fired, suspended or disciplined.

AP-ES-05-11-03 1619EDT