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Handyman Who Stole $239K Worth of Comic Books & Art From Marvel Exec. Arrested


On Tuesday, New York City police arrested 64-year-old Brookly, N.Y., resident on charges of theft and burglary after Spart police say that he sold stolen artwork and comic books worth almost a quarter million before leaving the country, later returning.

The items Bove was accused of stealing belonged to Joseph Quesada, Marvel's chief creative officer and former editor-in-chief. According to police documents (via NJHerald), Bove was accused of swiping the art worth $239,381 after he was hired on July 10 to do cleanup and repair caused by a broken water pipe.

The arrest affidavit, compiled by Sparta police Detective Jeffrey McCarrick, claims that Bove covered the security cameras with towels and stayed in the house with his girlfriend, without asking permission from Quesad.

While the affidavit didn't say who it was, reports allege that Quesda's wife noticed the security cameras in the Sparta home were all dark. The security company told her that the cameras were working fine.

According to the affidavit, Bove admitted to Quesada that he had been staying with his girlfriend at the house. It didn't take long for Quesada's friend to call him and ask why he was a selling a specific piece, but Quesada said that he didn't know what his friend was talking about, according to the affidavit.

Quesada informed police that the specific art his friend was telling him about was stored at their Sparta home. When Quesada returned to his house, he discovered that his art collection was missing.

According to the affidavit, Quesada started making phone calls to art dealers to find his portraits due to "his experience in the art and comic book business."

An art dealer told Quesada via email that he had paid Bove $5,000 for various pieces of artwork, and that Bold told him that Quesada had given him the pieces because they were water-damaged.

In the affidavit, McCarrick said that Bove admitted to taking the pieces of artwork and selling it to several dealers in New York City.

McCarrick stated in the affidavit that Bove admitted to taking the artwork and selling it to various dealers in New York City.

Associated Press reports that Bove also stole comic books, and according to the New York Post, one of the items was a Daredevil comic book thats said to be valued at $15,000.

After selling most of the items, Bove went to Italy, and he recently returned to his Brooklyn home where he was arrested without incident.

According to NJHerald, Bove is awaiting extradition to Sussex County and is expected to show up in state Superior Court in Newton soon.

In addition to Marvel's long history in comic books, the Disney-owned company is behind big blockbuster films like Avengers and related superhero movies and TV shows.

Read more: Ant-Man and The Wasp's Michelle Pfeiffer Says She's Having A 'Really Hard Time' Reading Comics

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