The violins had been costly — and really, very previous.
They included a Caressa & Francais, dated 1913 and valued at $40,000. A $60,000 Gand & Bernardel, dated 1870. And a 200-year-old Lorenzo Ventapane violin, value $175,000.
For greater than two years, federal prosecutors allege, Mark Meng stole high-end violins throughout the nation — ingratiating himself to distributors by posing as a collector who merely needed to borrow and check out them out, then ghosting these distributors and reselling them to an unknowing violin vendor in Los Angeles.
The 57-year-old Irvine man — who is also accused of robbing a financial institution with a pithy thank-you notice and fleeing in a white minivan — now faces expenses of wire fraud and financial institution theft, in keeping with a federal grievance filed Tuesday within the U.S. District Court docket for the Central District of California.
A person robs the U.S. Financial institution on Barranca Parkway in Irvine on April 2, demanding $18,000 from the teller.
(Irvine Police Instagram)
The violin scheme, prosecutors allege, ran from August 2020 by means of April 2023.
Throughout that point, Meng reached out to violin retailers, saying he needed to take the devices on mortgage for a trial interval to determine if he needed to purchase them.
He “gained the belief of those shops by representing himself as a collector, and in some instances, he bought violin bows earlier than asking for violin trial durations,” the grievance reads.
In every encounter, he allegedly stored the instrument past the trial-basis interval, “supplied excuses” for the delay, and negotiated a worth for the violin. He then would ship the violin store a verify that might bounce — after which he would ship a brand new scorching verify, faux he mailed the instrument again and the mailer service misplaced it, or just cease speaking.
Meng allegedly stole at the very least 4 violins, together with a 1903 Guilio Degani value $55,000, in addition to a bow by esteemed bow maker François Lotte valued at $7,500.
In October 2023, Meng was questioned by brokers from the FBI relating to the stolen violins.
So, prosecutors say, Meng was conscious he was underneath federal investigation when, on April 2, he allegedly robbed a U.S. Financial institution department on Barranca Parkway in Irvine.
In line with the federal grievance, Meng was carrying latex gloves, a baseball cap, darkish sun shades, a blue bandanna overlaying the decrease half of his face, and a “USA” T-shirt. Prosecutors say he slid a notice to the financial institution teller that learn: “$18,000. — Withdraw. Please. Keep Cool! No hurt. Thx.”
The teller instructed prosecutors that he “seemed to be shaking and nervous,” in keeping with the grievance.
When the teller stated she didn’t have entry to that a lot cash, he allegedly stated: “Give me no matter you’ve gotten!”
She opened the money register and gave him $446, the grievance says.
Meng then allegedly fled in a white Toyota Sienna minivan.
A financial institution worker coming back from lunch captured cellphone video footage of Meng getting into the automobile, the grievance says. Footage additionally was obtained from surveillance cameras.
The U.S. lawyer’s workplace stated in an announcement that the FBI’s Artwork Crime Workforce investigated Meng with help from the Irvine and Glendale police departments.
Meng was arrested April 11 by Irvine police. He instructed a detective that on the day of the theft, he went to a on line casino, Starbucks and Costco.
As detectives searched his dwelling, the place they discovered the “USA” T-shirt, a tenant who lived there instructed police that Meng preferred to gamble.
If convicted, Meng would face a statutory most sentence of 20 years in federal jail, in keeping with the U.S. lawyer’s workplace.
