Man sublets apartment, piano stolen

NEW YORK, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- A New York musician who sublet his $4,000-a-month apartment to a man he never met said his $140,000 concert grand piano was stolen.

Dong-Hyek Lim, 28, said he sublet his Trump Place apartment in December to a man calling himself Byungyung Kim on the website HeyKorean.com, a Craigslist-type site catering specifically to Korean Americans, and he returned recently to discover his piano and other items had been stolen, the New York Daily News reported Friday.

Lim said the man apparently used a bogus name and an email address and phone number that can't be traced. He said Kim also further sublet the apartment while Lim was away.

"We don't know who took what," said Daniel Churgin, Lim's lawyer.

"Pianos don't have insurance," Lim said. "Violins do. Violins can be stolen easily. A piano is not something you can put in your pocket."

The piano was tracked to Amadeus, a Long Island piano company that refused to hand the instrument over because it has been sold to a San Francisco man.

Lim said he is trying to get a court to block the piano from being shipped.