timesherald.com

PLYMOUTH - Township police recently arrested three people who were allegedly trying to sell stolen musical instruments back to a retail store.

Officers received a call on June 21 from the Guitar Center in the Metroplex Shopping Center on Chemical Road after an employee encountered three people attempting to sell guitars that were believed stolen.

The employee told police that a male and a female had come into the store with two guitars and had asked about selling them. The employee told the pair he would have to research the instruments first, and became wary of the proposition when the two asked for only $100 for one of the guitars when it was worth at least $1,000.

After checking the serial number on the guitar, the employee found that it had been purchased at the store on June 17 for $1,754.96 by another woman, so he called police.

After arriving at the store, officers made contact with the three suspects in the parking lot, identified as Stacey Shrout, 26, of Watkins Glenn; Gerald Martin, 19, of Troy; and Michael Crunetti, 30, of Huntingdon Valley.

The three suspects were standing next to a black Ford Focus, and in plain view officers could see seven guitar-type cases in the backseat and hatchback area.

When asked of the instruments, Martin said that they had bought them from a Hispanic male in Philadelphia for $20, and that the three had pooled their money to buy them in hopes of selling the items later to turn a profit.

Officers then placed the three under arrest before conducting a vehicle search and towing the car. Inside the car police found six guitars, a viola, an assisted listening system, a UHF stereo transmitter, two black nylon bags containing clothing and personal items and two sets of keys. They estimated value of the items exceeds $7,000.

After being transported back to Plymouth Township Police Department, it was found during processing that Crunetti was a wanted person under the alias of Jason Charles Crunetti, with the warrant listed out of Bradford County, PA.

Police then contacted the woman who had purchased the guitar that was attempted to be sold inside the Guitar Center, and she checked where she had last put her instrument to find that it was indeed missing.

Labels: guitar crime, Guitar News Daily