When Roxane West hired Mihaly Kovacsevics to watch over the artwork of her late aunt Shirley West, the last thing she expected him to do was steal everything.
But then: he did.
In total, Mr. Kovacsevics made off with 497 works of art, work that spanned a period of 60 years for the late Ms. West, an Abstract Expressionist painter and sculptor.
Ms. West the younger believed that she could trust Mr. Kovacsevics, the building superintendent at the Tribeca studio of her late aunt, who led her down the usual path of “You can’t go in there. Not today. But everything’s cool,” etc. and so on before his crime was eventually discovered.
“I literally trusted him with her life,” Ms. West told the Post.
Mr. Kovacsevics was nabbed Friday at JFK trying to leave the country. He had already left the country immediately following the crime, actually, but came back for a reason not listed in the Post story.
