A man accused of stealing two mandolins by a New Jersey music shop later brought them back, leaving a note claiming he had been drunk.
On Dec. 23, Lark Street Music in Teaneck, New Jersey, roughly 18 miles north of New York City, posted surveillance footage on social media from a day earlier showing the accused man with a “Montenegrin accent” looking around, taking two mandolins off the wall and putting them into pockets in his jacket before leaving the store.
On Friday, the music store said that the man returned and “surreptitiously opened the front door and returned them in 2 shopping bags.” The bags also included a note reading “Sorry, I been drunk, Merry Christmas” and “You are good man.”
Owner Buzzy Levine told WABC-TV that “I suspect that a friend of his or his mother said ’hey.’”
Mr. Levine wrote in the store’s social media update that he chased after the alleged mandolin thief following the sneaky return, and then called police after failing to catch him.
Teaneck Police Department Capt. Christopher Kurschner told ABC News that no arrests have been made yet.
The mandolins were worth about $4,000 each, Mr. Levine told WABC-TV. One of the mandolins sustained damage, and in addition to the mandolins and the note, the alleged thief also left a box of chocolates.
“I thought if I was in that position, that’s what I would probably do too, try to get out of a bad situation. Try to make amends,” Mr. Levine told WNBC-TV.
