More than $14,000 worth of items were stolen at Jefferson College in two separate but related incidents. The thefts occurred the evening of Dec. 8 during a high school honors band concert in the college’s Fine Arts building on the Hillsboro campus.
“They took a pair of musical instruments belonging to high school students who were there to perform,” said Don Riffe, chief of the Jefferson College Police Department. “The kids had all their stuff stashed in one place, and this was just a ‘grab a couple of things and go’ sort of thing. It was a crime of opportunity.”
A burglary was discovered several days later.
“We discovered on Dec. 13 there had been additional items stolen from storage in the Arts and Sciences building nearby,” Riffe said. “A building employee went to get some video equipment, and the storage area was broken into and (the equipment) was missing. We reviewed the surveillance video and saw it was around the same time as the other theft, and it looks like the same person.”
Riffe said the total value of the items stolen is in excess of $14,000.
“The first (incident) was a theft, but we’re treating the second one as a burglary,” he said. “And the dollar value makes it a felony.”
Riffe said his department has identified several persons of interest in the case, and recovered one of the instruments, a trumpet, using information gleaned from what he calls “extensive” video coverage of the campus buildings.
“They are not students at the college,” he said. “They’re not affiliated with the college in any way.”
He said the trumpet’s owner had recorded its serial number.
“We were easily able to match it to the one we recovered and return it to the owner right away,” he said.
The owner of the other stolen instrument, a saxophone, did not record its serial number.
“So, we’re still looking for that one,” Riffe said. “This points up how important it is, if you have a high-value item like an instrument, to record the serial number.”
The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information about the thefts is asked to call the Jefferson College Police Department at 636-481-3500.