Helmsley Won’t Unlock Cash Box, Locksmith Claims
A locksmith says he had a run-in with New York hotel magnate and convicted tax evader Leona Helmsley over the locksmith’s demand to collect payment after installing a lock on a vault in her home in this Phoenix suburb.
The locksmith was not identified by name or company affiliation by the Phoenix Gazette, which reported last week that Helmsley on Nov. 7 refused to pay the locksmith $385 in cash when he installed a lock on a vault in her home, although a c.o.d. arrangement had been agreed to by one of her employees.
Insisting that the bill be sent to New York, she barred the locksmith from returning to retrieve the lock, despite an order by his employer to do so, and then threatened to sue, the locksmith told the newspaper.
The newspaper said the locksmith “will remain anonymous because of his nervous boss.”
Helmsley, 69, could not be reached Monday for comment. The phone number at her home in suburban Paradise Valley is unlisted.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
