An Irvine man pled responsible Monday to orchestrating a scheme to steal and resell greater than $525,000 price of high-value violins – after which robbing a bank when he realized he was below investigation.
The Division of Justice reported Mark Meng, 58, posed as a musical instrument collector from August 2020 to April 2023 and satisfied violin outlets throughout the nation to mortgage him violins for a trial interval.
Throughout these trial intervals, he typically both offered or schemed to promote the devices. In some cases, he purchased violin bows earlier than asking for a trial mortgage.
After receiving every violin, Meng negotiated costs starting from $6,500 to $175,000, saved the devices past the trial interval, after which offered the outlets with checks that he knew would bounce as a result of inadequate funds.
When Meng was confronted by these outlets, he both despatched extra fraudulent checks or would lie and say he’d despatched again the instrument, however that it was misplaced within the mail.
Meng ultimately stopped responding to the outlets solely.
After stealing the violins, Meng resold them to a violin supplier in Los Angeles who was unaware of the scheme.
“For instance, on February 1, 2023, a sufferer loaned Meng a Guilio Degani violin – valued at $175,000 – pursuant to a trial-period contract, which required Meng to return or buy the violin by February 10, 2023,” wrote the DOJ. “Nevertheless, Meng offered this violin to a purchaser – who was unaware of the violin’s stolen origin.”
The DOJ listed different high-end violins that had been stolen by Meng:
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one Lorenzo Ventapane violin, dated 1823, and valued at $175,000;
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one Guilio Degani violin, dated 1903, and valued at $55,000;
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one Caressa & Francais violin, dated 1913, and valued at $40,000;
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one Francais Lott violin bow, stamped “Lupot,” and valued at $7,500;
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one Gand & Bernardel violin, dated 1870, and valued at $60,000;
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one French, Charles J.B. Colin Mezin violin, valued at $6,500; and
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one German, E.H. Roth Guarneri violin, valued at $6,500.
Meng offered three of those stolen violins and a violin bow to a sufferer for a complete of $44,700.
Finally, the FBI caught on to those thefts, and when Meng realized he was below investigation, he determined to rob a financial institution.
The DOJ reported that on April 2, 2024, Meng entered a financial institution department in Irvine, carrying a hat, sun shades, a bandana masking his face and blue latex gloves.
He gave the financial institution teller a word that stated “$18,000. – Withdraw. Please. Keep Cool. No hurt. Thx.”
The teller advised Meng she didn’t have entry to the cash he demanded, so Meng responded, “Give me no matter you could have.”
The teller, fearing hurt to herself and her coworkers, handed Meng $446.
The DOJ stated a latent print left on the theft word was traced again to Meng, and he was arrested a number of days later.
On Monday, Sept. 16, Meng pled responsible to 1 depend of wire fraud and one depend of financial institution theft.
Meng is scheduled for a sentencing listening to in February 2025 the place he’ll face a statutory most of 20 years in federal jail for every depend.
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