SHORT TAKES : Con Man Trades on Rivers’ Name

A con man who says he’s borrowing jewelry for Joan Rivers has made off with thousands of dollars worth of merchandise from at least two Manhattan stores, the syndicated talk-show host said today.

“This is terribly sad,” Rivers said in a news release. “The store owners are nice, honest people, and this shouldn’t have happened to them.”

The well-dressed man in his 30s said he was borrowing the jewelry for Rivers to wear during a televised interview with arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, according to Jennifer Geertz, a spokeswoman for Rivers.

The con man left two phone numbers with the stores, one at CBS and another that reaches a recorded message at offices of “The Joan Rivers Show.”

“He was a real pro,” Irene Kojen of the Peipers & Kojen store told New York magazine. “He was so smooth that when he asked for one ring, I lent him two, so Joan would have a choice.”