St. Paul: Couple stole musical instruments from colleges, pawned them, police say

Source: Pioneer Press, St.self storage Paul, Minn.Nov. 16--Three St. Paul colleges have been hit with the recent theft of about a dozen musical instruments worth thousands of dollars. Police said Friday that a couple may be facing the music for the crimes.St. Paul police said two suspects arrested early Friday afternoon in a traffic stop in Richfield are believed to have stolen a violin, a guitar, trumpets, saxophones, trombones and a viola da gamba from Macalester College, the University of St. Thomas and Hamline University in recent weeks.Police identified the suspects as Michael Joseph Lippert, 33, and Nicole Marie Korolchuk, 29.Police spokesman Sgt. Paul Paulos said the thieves apparently entered the schools, found the music departments, walked out with any instruments they could lay their hands on and then headed to a pawn shop.Some of the instruments were taken from secured lockers, others from unlocked rooms."They would go in almost looking like students, go into the music room and take these instruments and would later pawn them," Paulos said."All these colleges are very close to each other; it's very easy to walk around at will. So people come and go as they want.""I think they found a niche in expensive instruments," said Mike Barrett, public safety department associate director at St. Thomas. "They blended in with the environment."Paulos said the couple also is suspected in thefts at real-estate open houses in which they posed as potential home buyers but left with valuables, including electronics, jewelry and prescription drugs.Korolchuk was charged with doing that Nov. 2, when she and an unidentified man went to an open house in the 2000 block of Dayton Avenue in St. Paul, according to a criminal complaint.The man and Korolchuk left separately, but before Korolchuk left, she was confronted by the person conducting the open house and forced to give up an iPhone, phone chargers, two Kindles, jewelry and prescription medicine she was trying to take out of the house in a bulging purse, according to the complaint.Korolchuk was charged in Ramsey County District Court with two counts of theft of a controlled substance.Paulos said the couple were identified in the instrument thefts via pawn shop videos and through driver's licens迷你倉s they presented at the shops. He said Lippert has pawned more than 100 items this year, including instruments, jewelry, electronics and power tools."If you're looking at Craigs-list and anything's too good to be true, it's probably one of these stolen items," Paulos said.Some stolen instruments, including three trombones, a violin and two saxophones, have been recovered from pawn shops, Paulos said.When arrested in Richfield, Paulos said, Lippert and Korolchuk had a musical instrument in their car.Police suspect the two could be involved in thefts from music departments at other area colleges and other open houses.Paulos said the public is urged to call St. Paul police at 651-266-5416 if they think they may have been victimized.Korolchuk is described as about 5 foot 5 inches tall and 110 pounds with shoulder-length black hair. Lipper is about 6 feet 1 inches tall, about 220 pounds, with short brown hair, glasses and facial stubble.Paulos said the stolen instruments' value amounted to "several thousand dollars."According to Macalester College, two saxophones owned by the school stolen Nov. 9 and a school-owned bass viola da gamba stolen Thursday have a combined value of $7,500 to $8,000. A student's saxophone with an unspecified value was stolen at the school Nov. 9.St. Thomas reported two trombones stolen Wednesday from a locker in a rehearsal room by two people, and two people walked away with a guitar stolen from a rehearsal room Nov. 4.Barrett said the guitar and a trombone have been recovered, but a $6,000 saxophone owned by the university is still missing.At Hamline, a violin valued at $1,000 was taken from a student's locker Monday, and a school-owned trombone went missing last month, according to police reports.Korolchuk and Lippert were being held at the Ramsey County jail Friday awaiting charges. Police said they do not know if either has a current permanent address but Lippert has previously listed an Eagan address and Korolchuk has previously used a Maplewood address.Richard Chin can be reached at 651-228-5560. Follow him at twitter.com/RRChin.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.) Visit the Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.) at .twincities.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesmini storage