{"id":57540,"date":"2024-09-16T20:26:16","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T03:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=57540"},"modified":"2024-09-16T20:26:16","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T03:26:16","slug":"man-pleads-guilty-to-stealing-and-selling-high-end-violins-and-bank-robbery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=57540","title":{"rendered":"Man Pleads Guilty to Stealing and Selling High-End Violins and Bank Robbery"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0SANTA ANA, California<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"An Orange County man pleaded guilty Monday to federal criminal charges for orchestrating a scheme to steal high-value violins and robbing a bank in Irvine, officials stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mark Meng, 58, of Irvine, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of bank robbery.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to his plea agreement, from August 2020 to April 2023, Meng schemed to steal valuable violins and keep or resell them for his personal gain. <\/span><\/p>\n

Meng, posing as a collector of musical instruments, contacted violin shops across the country to express interest in receiving the violins on loan for a trial period to determine if he wished to buy them. <\/span><\/p>\n

In some cases, he purchased violin bows before asking for the violins on a trial-period basis.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"After receiving each violin, Meng negotiated a purchase price for it, kept the instrument beyond the trial period, and then provided the violin shops with a check or set of checks for the violin, knowing the whole time the checks he wrote to the violin shops would be rejected due to insufficient funds.<\/span><\/p>\n

When a violin shop representative contacted Meng to inform him that the shop\u2019s bank had rejected his checks, he sent a new series of checks, which also later were rejected due to insufficient funds. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes, Meng lied to the violin shops by falsely telling them he had mailed the violin back to them but that they had been lost in the mail. <\/span><\/p>\n

Eventually, Meng stopped communicating with the violin shops.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"After fraudulently obtaining the violins, Meng re-sold them to a buyer \u2013 often during the trial periods from the violin shops. <\/span><\/p>\n

For example, on February 1, 2023, a victim loaned Meng a Guilio Degani violin \u2013 valued at $175,000 \u2013 pursuant to a trial-period contract, which required Meng to return or purchase the violin by February 10, 2023. However, Meng sold this violin to a buyer \u2013 who was unaware of the violin\u2019s stolen origin.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to court documents, Meng also stole the following:<\/span><\/p>\n