A 331-year-old violin was stolen from a USC student. How police recovered the $650,000 instrument
There's at least one encore left for a $650,000 violin stolen from USC this month and thought to have been lost forever.
Los Angeles Police Department detectives announced Tuesday that a Milanese 1694 Giovanni Grancino violin that had been stolen nearly two weeks earlier was recovered, and a suspect is in custody.
Det. Stephanie Gutierrez, who led the investigation, said the instrument appeared unharmed, but a specialist paid for by a private party would inspect the violin to confirm its condition.
'I'm a history person, and when I heard this was from 1694, I just said, 'They can't replace this' and it needs to be found,' Gutierrez said.
The Los Angeles County district attorney's office confirmed that Jonathan Saldana, 31, has been charged with felony grand theft. He was arrested April 9 and pleaded not guilty April 11.
Saldana is being held in the Pitchess Detention Center North Facility in Castaic. He's due back in court April 25.
A call to his public defender was not returned.
Police allege that the suspect, who Gutierrez believes is homeless, followed a USC graduate student into the music department April 2.
The student swiped her card for door access, which police believe allowed Saldana to slip in behind the student.
'It's a secure facility, but the door closes so slowly that anyone can walk in right behind,' Gutierrez said. 'I sat across from the door, and I could go back and forth 10 times before it closed.'
USC did not respond to questions from The Times.
Gutierrez said surveillance camera footage showed that the student was practicing with the 331-year-old violin on a couch. She then put the instrument down to study.
During that time, Gutierrez said, Saldana allegedly saw the violin unattended and walked out with the instrument and its case. He is also accused of stealing a scooter on his way off campus around 5:30 p.m.
Gutierrez said she used surveillance footage to identify a county building where Saldana received homeless services.
She eventually identified him and his family's home. Though he no longer lived at the house, he stopped by frequently and dropped off laundry, according to police.
Gutierrez said Saldana's step-father confirmed that he saw Saldana carrying the violin case.
The violin was recovered in an encampment near West 31st Street and Main Street, not far from USC.
Gutierrez said no one wanted to barter with Saldana for the instrument and that another homeless person eventually stole it. Gutierrez said she spoke with this individual, who returned the violin Thursday around 9:30 p.m.
Gutierrez said the violin had been on loan from private owners in Los Angeles to a music shop in Koreatown, where it was borrowed by the student.
'I told the owners that, honestly, the violin was probably sold immediately and finding the suspect would be difficult,' Gutierrez said. 'I was shocked the violin was still in the vicinity, and I'm so happy we found it.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
ICE is using a tracking app to identify people who can easily be deported
ICE agents are reportedly using a new mapping app to track down migrants living illegally in the U.S who can be easily deported to meet Donald Trump's aggressive quotas. The app, an early version of which was known as Alien Tracker or ATRAC, allows agents and officers to view areas around the country with higher concentrations of people under deportation orders, making them more vulnerable to detention. Information about more than 700,000 individuals is recorded on the app and is available in a 'baseball-card-style format,' according to documents obtained by The New York Times. The Times reports that the app was launched with the help of Elon Musk and DOGE, before the billionaire's exit from the department late last month. According to documents seen by the outlet and accounts from ICE officials in Florida, the app also allows officers to identify immigrants with criminal convictions, further increasing the chances of a swift removal. 'The heat map shows where there are executable final orders of removal around the nation. And that officer then can just zoom in on those areas,' Garrett Ripa, head of the Miami ICE office, told The Times. To increase its reach, the tracker reportedly draws on data from multiple government agencies, including the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Social Security Administration. The agency reportedly plans for the tracker to ultimately consolidate data from all interior agencies, including housing and labor departments, the Human Services Department and the IRS. It comes as the administration continues to push forward with its aggressive targets, spearheaded by senior White House advisor Stephen Miller. Miller, the architect of Trump's anti-immigration agenda, pushed ICE officials to ramp up arrests after falling short of the president's ambitions for record-breaking daily deportations, according to a recent report in The Wall Street Journal. More than 200,000 people in the U.S. without authorization have been sent back to their home country, according to internal government data obtained by The Times. Miller told Fox News late last month that ICE would set a goal of a 'minimum' of 3,000 arrests a day. He reportedly asked top ICE officials last month if they believed it was possible to reach one million deportations by the end of the year, according to people with knowledge of the meeting. To achieve this, he told law enforcement to 'just go out there and arrest illegal aliens,' per the WSJ, adding that he had told agents to target Home Depot parking lots and 7-Eleven convenience stores to find suspects. It was these instructions that reportedly lit the fuse for the raids in Los Angeles County, which have since devolved into violent clashes between demonstrators and police – and prompted Trump to summon 4,000 members of the state national guard. Alongside stakeouts of clubs, restaurants and other community hubs, internal administration documents reviewed by The Washington Post instructed ICE agents in more than 20 states to arrest people at courthouses, immediately after their cases are dismissed by a judge, or if they are given orders for their removal. Following that, immigrants who have been in the country for less than two years are placed into a fast-track removal process, which does not involve a hearing before a judge. Alongside the internal tactics of the agency, ICE has also sought help from members of the public, with a phone number for people to call and report on potential illegal immigrants. 'When you call our Tip Line, we listen!' the agency wrote in the caption of a video posted to X last month. The somewhat graphic footage showed the arrest of several men outside a home improvement store in Baltimore, Maryland. For those wanting an end to the hunt and a chance of future return to the U.S., the government has offered yet another solution. On Monday, the DHS announced on X that any immigrants who self-deported through its 'CBP Home App' would receive 'forgiveness of any failure to depart fines,' as well as cost-free travel and even a $1,000 'exit bonus.' 'By self-deporting, illegal aliens take control of their departure and may preserve the opportunity to come back to the U.S. the right and legal way in the future,' it added.
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Over 200 arrests made amid curfew in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday night
The Los Angeles Police Department made more than 200 arrests during protests in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday night, following the enforcement of a citywide curfew and reports of criminal activity. While most people dispersed after officers arrived, police reported 203 arrests for failure to disperse. Authorities also reported 17 curfew-related arrests, three arrests for possession of a firearm, one for assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, and one for discharging a laser at an LAPD helicopter. According to the LAPD, officers, along with multiple law enforcement partners, responded to large gatherings near Temple Street and Los Angeles Street after the curfew took effect at 8 p.m. 2 men charged with throwing Molotov cocktails at officers during protests The curfew, issued by Mayor Karen Bass, covered the area bounded by the 5, 10 and 110 freeways. The curfew is in effect from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. and will remain in place until further notice, according to the mayor's office Two LAPD officers were injured and received medical treatment, the department said. Police also deployed numerous less-lethal munitions during the crowd control efforts. Another update on arrests is expected Thursday morning. None of the arrestees were identified by Angeles — especially downtown — has been the site of destructive and at times violent demonstrations over the past five days. Protests also spread into Orange County when ICE raids were confirmed in Santa Ana. Local, state and federal leaders have urged demonstrators to protest peacefully; Bass went so far as to say that those who engage in looting and other violent activity 'do not care' about immigrants. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Los Angeles Times
2 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Chair of L.A. County sheriff oversight commission says he is being forced out
The top official on the watchdog commission that oversees the Los Angeles Count Sheriff's Department is being terminated from his position, according to correspondence reviewed by The Times. Robert Bonner, chair of the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission, wrote in a Wednesday letter to L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger that he received a letter from her on May 13 that said he was being replaced. Bonner wrote in the Wednesday letter that he had contacted Barger's office to request 'an opportunity to meet with you and to express 'my personal wish to be able to finish out the year.'' Barger's office said on May 15 that a scheduler would reach out to set up a meeting, but that never happened, according to Bonner's Wednesday letter. He added that he is 'involuntarily leaving the Commission' and that he would prefer to stay on to finish work that is underway. 'Given the length of time that I have been on the Commission, and that I am the current Chair of the Commission with another possible year as Chair, I expected as a matter of courtesy that you would want to speak with me and hear me out,' Bonner, 83, wrote. Bonner and Barger, who chairs the County Board of Supervisors, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday morning. Bonner's Wednesday letter did not say when he will serve his final day as a member of the commission. A former federal judge, Bonner began his second stint as chair of the commission in July 2024. He previously served as its first chair for two years between 2016 and 2018. Chairs and officers of the oversight commission are elected to one-year terms each July and can only serve two consecutive years in those roles. Bonner's letter stated that he has been working on several important issues that he was hoping to see through. The initiatives included revisions to the Los Angeles County Code to help ensure the commission can serve as an independent oversight body; legal action to ensure the commission can review confidential documents in closed session; the shepherding of AB 847, a bill passed by the state Assembly on June 2 that would ensure civilian oversight commissions can review confidential documents in closed session; and efforts to eliminate deputy gangs and cliques. 'Hopefully,' Bonner wrote in his Wednesday letter, his colleagues on the commission 'will be able to implement these goals while I am attempting to improve my tennis game.'
