An old school music enthusiast must prepare himself to face the music after being caught to the tune of more than $60,000 worth of stolen vinyl records in Melbourne’s CBD.
Melbourne East police noticed a trend in which an apparent avid vinyl collector attended various electronic stores on at least 13 occasions over the past four months, allegedly leaving with a handful for LPs.
Calling on the assistance of the Melbourne East Neighbourhood Policing and the intelligence gathering skills of the Melbourne Divisional Response Unit, officers were able to trawl through CCTV vision and identify the vintage album fan.
Becoming #1 on their hit list, officers worked with store staff to turn the tables on the alleged thief and caught the 33-year-old man in the act at a La Trobe Street store on the 22nd of May 2024.
Officers executed a search warrant at a North Melbourne address and seized more than 400 vinyl records along with a small amount of heroin and marijuana.
The North Melbourne man is expected to be charged on summons for numerous shop thefts.
It appears the alleged thief was no one hit wonder, with investigations ongoing in relation to numerous record thefts in nearby suburbs to determine whether they are linked.
