Keep that gamba on lockdown: Instrument thefts rock college campuses

Until recently, junior Matthew Creasy adopted a nonchalant attitude towards security at Macalester College. He usually locked up his belongings, but on rare occasion he would forget.

Wednesday, November 6 was one such instance.

Creasy left his saxophone in an unlocked locker along with two other saxophones from the Macalester music department. When he returned the next week, the locker was empty. He spent what was supposed to be a MacJazz rehearsal calling Macalester security and the police department.

"I was really upset," he said. "The music building is a safe enough environment, I just left the locker unlocked this one time. I placed the blame on myself."

His director, Joan Griffith, suspected that this theft was part of a larger operation. Some of her students at the University of St. Thomas were missing guitars.

As the St. Paul police became involved, a string of similar crimes emerged. Stolen musical instruments from a variety of Twin Cities schools, including St. Thomas, Hamline, and Macalester turned up at pawn shops and online on eBay. The police were able to recover many of the stolen instruments, including Creasy's saxophone and another sax owned by the Macalester music department.

"We had a little bit of hope they'd be recovered," said Chuen-Fun Wong, chair of the music department. "It's been very lucky."

Going through the pawn shop system, the police were able to track down the thieves. Two suspects, Michael Joseph Lippert and Nicole Marie Korolchuk, are now being charged for the crimes.

Griffith believes she saw the pair standing by the instrument lockers the day after they stole the saxophones. She feared they were on to the next batch. They looked out of place, so Griffith questioned them but dismissed the idea after the man said the woman was a student.

Then, a gamba disappeared.

Griffith views this experience as wake-up call. "Security is so easy to take for granted," she said. "It's fine 99.9% of the time. But if you see people who don't seem fit, make it known they've been noticed."

The thefts came as a shock to Creasy not only because he lost an important and valuable possession, but because of the nature of the crimes. "I'd never been part of such a large-scale series of thefts," he said. "It definitely surprised me because you have petty theft of laptops and stuff like that, but I think this is on a different level."

Creasy said he will be more vigilant with his locker in the future and he will start locking his house door.

Macalester's music department has also made some adjustments in light of the thefts. "This was a good occasion for us to learn about security," Wong said. "We will fully enforce and implement policy about instruments in the future."

After the incident all ensemble directors discussed the possibility of theft with their students. Signs reminding to them use locks now line the department's hallways. Additionally, musicians are discouraged from leaving their instruments unattended in practice rooms.

Macalester's Director of Environmental Health, Safety and Security wants this crime to serve as a warning to all students, not just musicians. He says that most campus crime comes from outside sources.

"It's a concern," he said. "We are, as the police call the colleges, 'a target rich environment.' The bad guys know there is stuff here." However, attending a small and sheltered school can sometimes lull students into a sense of security.

Wong believes this is dangerous. "You see a familiar face and think Macalester is a small village," he said. "But the other fact is that we have no way of blocking people from entering because we're a college. We need to heighten our awareness."

Ellie Fuqua is a freshman at Macalester College. She plans to double major in international studies and media and cultural studies, and hopes to pursue journalism as a career.