 Rare violin stolen from car recovered
11:15 PM CDT on Thursday, October 5, 2006 By Jim Douglas / WFAA-TV
ARLINGTON - A thief apparently didn't know what he stole or who he was up against when he stole a rare and expensive violin. The thief targeted a car Monday in a parking lot near Interstate 20 and Little Road. He smashed the window and grabbed the violin, which was an Italian master craftsman made in 1923. |
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The owner of the violin, 17-year-old Barbara Oh, aid she has dreamed of a career as a violin soloist since she was 5-years-old. "It's my life," she said. "This is how I communicate with the world because sometimes there aren't words to express your feelings." She said she was devastated when her violin was stolen, and believed she would never see it again. But Jim McRobbie, Arlington Police Department, is the maestro of pawn shop detectives and he was on the case. "The mere possession of this property is a felony," he said. "He better have a good story." |
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Barbara Oh plays her violin that was recovered from a pawn shop. |
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Just this week, McRobbie was honored for recovering more stolen property than anyone else by using a computer database called "leads on line." The database tracks property brought into pawn shops. "Based on our dollar recoveries last year, we were number one in the nation," he said. McRobbie said employees at a shop on Park Row gathered all the information he needed, which includes information and a picture of who pawned the violin Tuesday. While the thief has been caught yet, Oh could play again only three days after her violin was stolen. However, Oh now faces a new problem. She recently learned of an untreatable problem with her left arm and hand, which crushes her dreams of becoming a soloist. "The more I play, the more I lose the ability to use my hand," she said. But she said she already has a new dream to be a doctor and to help injured people. "I want to help those people go back and reach their dreams," she said.
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