Dec. 26, 2025, 7:29 p.m. ET
Instruments worth thousands of dollars were returned to a Teaneck music shop after being stolen earlier in this week.
The owner of Lark Street Music posted onFacebook on Dec. 26 that the two mandolins that were stolen from his store on Dec. 22 were returned in shopping bags with a note attached to the instruments.
“Sorry, I been drunk, Merry Christmas. You are a good man,” read the handwritten letter that was posted on the Lark Street Music social media.
Bernard Levine, the owner of Lark Street Music, reported the theft to the Teaneck Police Department at the start of the week.
Surveillance footage showed the man who took the mandolins. Levine said he remembered the man entered the store, spoke with one of the employees and then placed the instruments inside his winter coat before he left the shop.
Levine said the person who stole the mandolins, which are worth between $8,000 and $9,000, entered the shop Friday afternoon, dropped off the bags and then left the vicinity. The owner said on Facebook he tried to chase down the person but couldn’t catch him and ended up calling the police.
The Teaneck Police Department originally reported the theft on a release to their Facebook page, but did not post about the recovered instruments or the suspect.
“Your posts and pressure definitely made him realize the walls were closing in,” said the Facebook post. “Thank you all! I feel like I’m in a TV movie.”
Lark Street Music has been in business since 1981. The shop sells a variety of stringed instruments including a collection of rare, new and used guitars.