Danny Avital.Photo: Patrick McMullan

Some people hire nannies and have perfect relationships. Some people hire nannies and install nanny cams, discovering undesirable behavior. Some people hire nannies, only to later learn that their children have had sex with them. Really, there are a lot of ways a nanny relationship can work. But for one Manhattan couple, hiring a nanny meant sparking a chain of theft, kidnapping, and assault.

Danny Avital, a private investor with a house on the West Side, hired 53-year-old Teejia Balikaran to look after his kids. It wasn't long before she found a private stash of cash in her boss's bedroom and started stealing a little each month. In the end, she stole nearly $150,000. That wasn't the end of it, of course. Soon, her relatives allegedly found out, and they kidnapped her husband to try to find out where Avital's stash was. When he said he didn't know, they reportedly spent two hours beating him up.

Now, there are some lessons in this for all of us: First, if you are a family of crooks, don't talk about all that money you just scammed at your next reunion. And second, storing your money in your mattress is only for poor people who can't accidentally hire a nanny with a family of thugs.

IT'S A 'BOOTY' SHAKEDOWN [NYP]