LI CRIME BRIEFS

WYANDANCH/Suspect in fatal stabbing indicted in Nassau court

A former Wyandanch man stabbed his roommate last summer after a dispute over a cell phone, then fled to Georgia after leaving the man to die, a Suffolk prosecutor said yesterday in County Court in Riverhead.

Ras Amadi Davis, 22, of Atlanta, was indicted on second-degree murder charges in the Aug. 23 death of Jodel Damus, 26. Davis was picked up Wednesday in Georgia by Suffolk police and the U.S. Marshals Service and brought to Long Island to face charges, Suffolk police said.

Davis was to be arraigned yesterday before State Supreme Court Justice Robert W. Doyle in Riverhead. But his arraignment was adjourned until Monday because Davis did not have legal representation.

Davis and Damus, who lived in a boardinghouse in Wyandanch, had an ongoing conflict over a cell phone Davis believed Damus had taken from him, Assistant District Attorney Nancy Clifford said outside court.

While Damus slept, Davis stabbed him seven times, she said. Witnesses saw Davis flee the boardinghouse with a knife that was dripping blood, she said.

Davis, whose street name is "Maserati," had taken the knife from a supermarket where he worked in the deli department, she said. After stabbing Damus, he returned to the supermarket and told co-workers what had happened and then fled to Georgia, Clifford said.

- CARL MACGOWAN

NEW YORK CITY/Stolen Moore sculpture recovered in Toronto

A Henry Moore bronze sculpture stolen from a New York City gallery in 2001 has been recovered from a Toronto gallery.

The $80,000 abstract sculpture of a reclining figure was found Wednesday at Miriam Shiell Fine Art. The gallery's owner said the consignor brought it in last week, and she searched the Art Loss Register database to see if it had been reported stolen.

"When a piece doesn't have any history, anything that is verifiable, you need to do due diligence," said Shiell, who has owned the gallery for 30 years.

The recovery came days after a Paul Klee painting stolen in 1989 was found in a Montreal art gallery.

Robert Landau searched the Art Loss Register database after a Florida art dealer tried to sell him the 1930 painting, "Portrait in the Garden." The $125,000 painting had been stolen from the Marlborough Gallery in New York City. Landau turned the piece over to U.S. authorities.

Despite the similarities in the cases, the thefts are unrelated, said Christopher Marinello, executive director of the London-based Art Loss Register. The register maintains a 350,000-item database of stolen artworks.

The abstract Moore sculpture titled "Three Piece Reclining Figure: Maquette No. 4" (1975) was reported stolen in November 2001 by the James Goodman Gallery.

- AP