2 charged after Picassos stolen from dead man

A man hired to move the extensive art collection of a New York man who died without a will has been charged with the theft of two Pablo Picasso drawings valued at $60,000 US.

The mover, Nahum Kohen, 38,and his mother-in-law, Ori Lellouch, 56, were arrested Thursday in Queens, N.Y.

The Picasso drawings, of a guitar and a mandolin, have been recovered, investigators said.

The drawings came from the apartment of William Kingsland, a Manhattan collector who died in March without leaving a will and with no close relatives.

A public administrator's office, which handles the estates of people who die without a will, had hired a consulting firm to document Kingsland's collection.

But the drawings were discovered to be missing in June, a month after a mover took them out of the apartment to be stored in a warehouse.

Kohen has been charged with second-degree grand larceny and second-degree criminal possession of stolen property, and Lellouch has been charged with criminal possession of stolen property.

Kohen's lawyersays his client is not guilty. Wire services were unable to get a comment from Lellouch.