ROSWELL, Ga. — Roswell police have recovered more than $100,000 in violins and other instruments stolen from music shops across metro Atlanta.
Police say Gary Crouse and Leslie Fields systematically removed violins from Atlanta Violins and other locations in Atlanta and sold them to a store in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Their plan hit a sour note when the owner of the store started researching the violins the men sold him, investigators said.
“He realized something was not right and he made it right by reaching out and saying: ‘I think I have your instruments and I think I’ve seen others that are stolen,’” said Atlanta Violins office manager Megan Hallam.
Hamlin, who works at the downtown Roswell location, told Channel 2’s Mike Petchenik her store carries one of the largest inventories of violins in the Southeast, including several high-priced pieces.
“We are a full-service violin shop,” said Hallam. “We handle all string instruments that are in the violin family.”
She said Fields had been in the store several times in the few months, but nobody suspected of anything.
“We’d gotten a couple of visits by the same gentlemen over the course of a month or two that one of our owners kind of got a weird read off of him,” she said. “Something about him just didn’t seem right.”
Roswell police said when Crouse came back to the shop Thursday, they showed up and began to question him, which eventually led officers to a hotel room on Holcomb Bridge Road, where they recovered violins and other instruments.
“We also recovered three trumpets, two oboes and a clarinet that still need to be identified,” said Roswell Police Officer Lisa Holland. “We believe they are stolen from stores and hopefully we’ll be able to get them back home.”
WSBTV
