AP: Queens mover, mother-in-law charged in thefts of Picasso drawings

 

By Colleen Long

Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK CITY (AP) — When William Kingsland died in March, he left an extensive art collection.

A city agency, tasked with handling the estates of dead people who have no wills or relatives, hired a mover to cart many of Kingsland’s belongings to a warehouse for auction. But the mover made off with two Picasso drawings worth more than $60,000, authorities charged.

The mover and his mother-in-law have been arrested. The mother-in-law was accused of trying to sell the drawings, which depict a guitar and a mandolin.

“Not only are these defendants charged with stealing from their own customers but from the dead,” city Department of Investigation Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn said in a statement. “Stealing on the job is not a fringe benefit.”

But a lawyer for the mover, Nahum “Nino” Kohen, said his client did not steal the black and white cubist sketches, which have been recovered.

“Nahum Kohen is absolutely innocent of these charges, and we hope that this grave injustice can be undone as soon as possible,” attorney Roger Stavis said.

Stavis said he did not know who was representing his client’s mother-in-law, Ori Lellouch, and there was no home telephone listing for her.

Kohen, 38, of Fresh Meadows, Queens, was arrested on charges of second-degree grand larceny and second-degree criminal possession of stolen property. If convicted, he could face up to 15 years in prison. Lellouch, 56, of Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, was arrested on a charge of criminal possession of stolen property and could face a year in prison if convicted.