By Tim Binnall
A remorseful man who stole a pair of mandolins from a New Jersey music store returned the pilfered instruments with a note in which he blamed being drunk for the brazen heist. The curious caper reportedly occurred on December 22nd when the sticky-fingered ne'er-do-well meandered into Lark Street Music in Teaneck and stuffed the two pieces, valued at nearly $8,000 total, into his coat before fleeing the scene. After the store shared surveillance footage of the crime on social media, they were surprised to discover the instruments returned a few days later with a rather amusing note from the thief, wherein he declared, "sorry, I been drunk. Merry Christmas. You are good man."
Reflecting on the unexpected recovery of the expensive pieces, store owner Buzzy Levine marveled, "I couldn't believe it. I said, 'this is insane.' This is like, some kind of weird movie that has a happy ending or something." Moments after the thief popped into the shop and "surreptitiously" deposited the instruments, a curious Levine gave chase to the man, who was "running really fast and kept looking back to see if I was catching up or he was gaining ground" before vanishing around a corner. While the suspect's odd act of contrition for the drunken misadventure was undoubtedly commendable, it may not prevent him from facing justice for the caper, as Teaneck police remain in pursuit of the mandolin bandit.