[CPProt.net] USA: Missing antiques unveil theft plot

[museum-security (FTP)]

Missing antiques unveil theft plot
Police: Health care aide pilfered items from home of client, then sold
goods at flea markets and to stores

BY THERESA VARGAS
STAFF WRITER

January 19, 2005, 7:14 PM EST

In hues faded by time, the life-long collection of a Sands Point woman lay
spread out on a police table Wednesday.

First-edition books like Dante's Inferno and Winnie the Pooh. Gold pocket
watches. Thousands of postage stamps. Letters from the 1920s addressed to
her husband, unopened.

And that's only what police were able to recover.

Nassau investigators said the the 81-year-old woman, whom they refused to
identify, had hundreds of antiques cleared out of her home by the health
care aide hired to take care of her.

The aide, Judith Fraser, 41, of 9501 125th St. in Richmond Hill, was
arraigned on a charge of second-degree grand larceny Wednesday in First
District Court in Hempstead. She could not be reached for comment.

Police estimate that Fraser took belongings worth about $500,000.

"She just carried it out of the house," Det. Sgt. Thomas Reilly of the
Sixth Squad said.

Hauling the goods from the home to her SUV, Fraser took the collection
piece by piece over a three-month period, police said. She even rolled a
200-pound, solid bronze statue of two interlocked nymphs down the stairs.

Fraser then sold many of the items at flea markets and second-hand stores,
and posted listings on the Internet for others, investigators added.

At least two of the items were advertised on eBay. A leather-encased set
of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," dating to 1852, was available for $16,600. And a
set of four Winnie the Pooh books from 1924, including "The House at Pooh
Corner" and "Now We are Six," was going for $6,000.

There were many inquiries, but no buyers.

Other first-edition books were sold for $20 each at a flea market.

"We're not sure the total loss yet," Reilly said.

Wednesday police displayed what they had recovered. A silk-screen painting
picturing women holding offerings on platters appeared to have been cut
from the frame. A Tiffany's writing set with an ivory pen and
silver-plated inkwells containersdated back to 1869. There were a man's
cuff links, 100 books, a silver plate with cups engraved in honor of the
woman's husband.

Police said Wednesday they were hoping to gather more items.

The woman, hard of hearing and wheelchair-bound, noticed the missing items
only recently while showing a friend the house, police said. She first saw
that a clock was missing.

The woman called Sands Point police and the next day Officer James Polla
noticed a clock matching the description in the window of nearby antique
store, Hidden Treasures.

The store owner, Javid Sakhai, cooperated with police, telling them from
whom he bought the items. He was arrested for operating without a license
and not reporting to police that he had purchased the second-hand items.
He was released on an appearance ticket.

Reilly said that Fraser did not seem to have any formal training in
appraising of arts or artifacts, but seemed to have a practical knowledge
of it. She knew what price to ask for each, he said.
Copyright © 2005, Newsday, Inc.

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