Police are appealing for help identifying four suspects believed to have stolen a Martin D-28 acoustic guitar worth $15,000 from a music store in Baltimore, Maryland.
The guitar – located high on the wall in the acoustic room at Music Land in Bel Air – was the target of a group of four thieves believed to be of Romani origin, police say. As CCTV footage shows, the suspects wait for the employee present to step out of the room, before taking the guitar from the wall and concealing it inside a big winter coat.
“One of the female suspects was on lookout,” says store owner Larry Noto [via WMAR-2 News Baltimore]. “The other two suspects took the guitar. She had a long black winter coat on, a very puffy coat. It was freezing out. You know how it was a couple of weeks ago and had sort of a black bag that they slipped the guitar in.”
It’s believed that the theft took place in under a minute. Noto explains of the rare, high-price D-28: “This was a consignment piece from 1947, so a very rare, special piece that we just happened to have on sale as part of our consignment programme.”
“You know you trust people, and they came and they even said, ‘Oh, you have such a nice store,’ and we just thought these were nice people looking for guitars,” says Noto.
“You do feel violated and it was really sad and disturbing to watch the video that had happened. We’re a local family-owned business, [and have] served the community for 55 years.You just don’t think something like that’s going to happen to you.”
Those with information on any of the suspects are encouraged to contact Bel Air police on 410-638-4500.
Sadly, music gear remains a common target for thieves. Just this month, guitarist Chris Buck appealed for help finding a selection of gear stolen from his car in Bristol.
And Music Land is far from the first brick-and-mortar store to deal with thieves; for example, in 2024, criminals made off with a $5,200 Gibson Les Paul by simply walking out of a Canada store with it.
Sam is the Associate News Editor for Guitar.com and MusicTech. Thoroughly immersed in music culture for the majority of his life, Sam has played guitar for 20 years, studied music technology and production at university, and also written for the likes of Guitar World, Total Guitar, Metal Hammer and MusicRadar.