Thief Returns Stolen Mandolins with Apology Note

A thief who stole two valuable mandolins from a vintage music store in Teaneck, New Jersey, returned the instruments days later along with a handwritten apology note admitting he had been drunk at the time. The unusual resolution to the December 22 theft unfolded at Lark Street Music, a longtime dealer in vintage instruments, after the store's owner shared surveillance footage online that drew widespread attention.

Surveillance video captured the suspect, described by the store as a man with a possible Montenegrin accent, concealing the mandolins under his winter coat before walking out of the shop. The stolen items were a Gibson F12 and a Weber Yellowstone, with a combined value estimated at between $7,750 and $9,000. Owner Buzzy Levine, who also goes by Bernard Levine, noticed the front door ajar several days after the theft and discovered the mandolins inside shopping bags, accompanied by the note. The message, scrawled in red pen on graph paper, read: "SORRY, I BEEN DRUNK, MERRY CHRISTMAS. You are good man."

Levine told local reporters he briefly spotted the person leaving and gave chase down the street but lost sight of him before calling police. Upon inspecting the...