By Alex Christodoulides
Last week the New York City Department of Investigation announced the arrest of a man and his mother-in-law on charges relating to the theft last spring of two drawings by Pablo Picasso worth an estimated $60,000 from the late Upper East Side art collector William Kingsland.The alleged thief, Nachum “Nino” Kohen, 38, of Fresh Meadows, was the mover hired by the public administrator to cart household furnishings and personal effects from Kingsland's apartment to its warehouse in lower Manhattan, the DOI said. He is charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property, the DOI said. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison. Kohen's mother-in-law, Ori Lellouch, 56, of Kew Gardens Hills, has been charged with criminal possession of stolen property, a misdemeanor, and faces up to one year in prison, the DOI said.According to the city Department of Investigation, the pieces were taken after Kingsland died in March. The investigation began in June after the Manhattan public administrator told the DOI that the Picasso drawings of a guitar and a mandolin were missing and believed stolen. The Department of Investigation said it traced the stolen drawings to Kohen after learning from the FBI that Lellouch allegedly tried to sell them.”Not only are these defendants charged with stealing from their own customers but from the dead,” said Department of Investigation Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn. “Stealing on the job is not a fringe benefit. Most realize it could lead to jail and a criminal record.”The public administrator had hired a consulting firm to sift through the Kingsland estate's numerous works of art and assist it in marketing the more valuable items, Gill Hearn said. On April 25, 2006, the consultant photographed the two drawings in the Kingsland apartment and included them in a catalog of his art collection that was shown to representatives of art galleries, auction houses and other potential purchasers, Gill Hearn said.After the Department of Investigation was notified that the two Picasso drawings were missing, investigators compiled a list of everyone who had visited the apartment while it was under the public administrator's control, Gill Hearn said. Kohen's name appeared on the list as a subcontractor for Liberty Movers, when he was hired to move Kingsland's less valuable belongings from the apartment to a warehouse where they would be offered for sale at public auction, Gill Hearn said.Some of Kingsland's other art works had been reported stolen years earlier, Gill Hearn said. In October, FBI agents investigating those reports interviewed a number of art dealers and experts, the DOI said. In late November, FBI agents learned that a Manhattan-based art broker had tried to sell one of the two missing Picasso pieces to several auction houses, Gill Hearn said. The Department of Investigation said the agents learned that the broker had allegedly obtained the drawing from Lellouch and later recovered both missing drawings from her.Reach reporter Alex Christodoulides by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 155.
