Saint Alvia's Stolen Gear Returned After Thief Caught

BY Gregory AdamsPublished Mar 10, 2011

As most musicians know, being in a band can be expensive. The cost of instruments alone can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars. While having anything stolen sucks, getting your gear lifted can be supremely heartbreaking. Just ask Said the Whale, who had a ton of equipment and personal items lifted from their trailer while in California this week. Generally, unless you hit up a sketchy pawnshop toute suite, your gear is gone for good.

But that's not always the case, which brings us to Saint Alvia. The Ontario punk act had their practice space ransacked last week, with a small fortune's worth of musical accoutrement stolen. Amazingly, the robber was found and most of the group's gear has been recovered.

A press release from the Hamilton police explains that on February 27, "a male suspect broke into a music studio and warehouse and removed several thousand dollars worth of musical instruments and related items."

Saint Alvia, as well as fellow flatmates June & July and Eat Me (Suck City), were active in the investigation, networking with bands and local businesses to find their missing swag. All of their sleuthing paid off when the cop obtained a warrant to search a North End Hamilton home.

A search took place March 8, which resulted in the arrest of resident Andrew Collins and the recovery of the stolen gear.

"All the badgering, canvasing, faxing, sharing, emailing, interviews, tweeting, blogging and word of mouth paid off and it's all thanks to you guys," Saint Alvia member Ben Rispin said in a statement. "You will be happy to know that the thief who stole our gear has admitted to the crime and we have recovered most of our stuff."

Just take a look at how happy the band look in the photo above. Who says you can't have a happy ending?

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