Staff writer
An unknown thief recently stole about $10,000 of musical instruments from Tabor College, according to the school’s music department chair, Bradley Vogel.
Police reports said that between noon March 24 and 6 p.m. March 25, a trombone, a flute, four drum set cymbals, and a CD player were taken from the instrument storage room and rehearsal hall along with two student-owned flutes and a $5,000 oboe.
“Whoever took it all appears to have been selective,” Vogel said. “There were many other instruments they probably could have taken. Things were moved around and some cases had been opened.”
Hillsboro Police Chief Dan Kinning said building doors appeared to have been unlocked when the theft occurred.
“It’s not the first time something like this has happened,” Kinning said. “Years back, several instruments were stolen, but they changed out all their locks and the problem stopped.”
Vogel said doors are usually unlocked because Tabor has an open trust agreement with students so they can access their instruments when they need to rehearse.
Vogel said the incident might cause the department to be less accommodating to students in the band program.
“It makes us uncomfortable,” Vogel said. “I would like to make the building less accessible to people.”
Despite the loss, he said the incident should not affect any upcoming concerts as replacement instruments would be made available to students.
A possible lead between the theft and the theft of a wallet containing a credit card that police believe was used at convenience store in Moundridge hit a dead end when police discovered the store did not have video cameras.
However, Kinning said police collected serial numbers for some instruments, which might allow officials to retrieve them should the instruments be pawned.