
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, October 10, 1993                   TAG: 9310100154
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: D-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Newsday
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Medium

N.Y. BOMB AFTERSHOCK: THIEVERY

Not everyone was a hero in the World Trade Center explosion: There were also a number of thieves.

In the first official tally released, Port Authority police reports show more than $200,000 worth of property was stolen from the building in the minutes, hours and days following the terrorist bombing last February.

There were nearly 500 reports of property missing and presumed stolen, with items ranging from a thermos taken from an office to a $4,500 silver tea service taken from the World Trade Center's New York Vista hotel.

"To say it was all stolen is highly speculative," said Port Authority spokesman John Kampfe. Although he conceded "there might have been some minor pilfering," he insisted security was tightened immediately after the blast to prevent wholesale thievery from the office complex.

Port Authority police detectives said the cases are all being treated as thefts. They noted it would have been pretty easy to smuggle stolen items out of the building in the chaotic hours after the blast. Detectives said that while a few reports may be bogus or inflated by people trying to collect on insurance coverage, most appeared legitimate.

Kampfe said workers and companies in the World Trade Center have filed 482 reports of property taken in the aftermath of the terrorist blast. He said the claims represent $217,200 in property - or an average of about $450 per complaint.

"A lot of it was small, personal stuff that could be taken easily," Kampfe said.

But there were some bigger hauls, such as the one from the New York Vista hotel. According to a Port Authority memo dated Aug. 31 and obtained by New York Newsday, about $12,000 worth of artwork was officially declared "missing lost or stolen" from the hotel's suites and lounges.

The artwork includes a $500 Tiffany-style lamp taken from the executive lounge and seven lithographs worth about $1,000 taken from the presidential suite.

Also included among the stolen articles were the Sheridan Tauton silver tea service valued at $4,500, a pine clock valued at $2,000 and a seriograph titled "Madison Avenue" by artist Georgette Battle valued at $1,000.

by CNB