An accomplished musician who performed at a Red Cross benefit with famed DJ Steve Aoki in San Francisco this week has recovered his stolen violins.
ABC7 reports his instruments were taken from his car which was parked in Alamo Square, the San Francisco neighborhood where the city’s renowned Painted Ladies Victorians are located.
Kim has performed with Third Eye Blind, Hootie and the Blowfish and Dishwalla.
Thieves took his violins the morning after he performed for the Red Cross.
He described his violins to SF Gate as irreplaceable.
“To have my violins stolen, I mean they’re like my babies,” he said. “I have kids, but I had them before I had kids,” he said.
Fortunately for Kim, he had placed a Tile in his instrument. The tracking device is designed just for moments like this-when items are lost or stolen.
“The app located my violins at the exact location where a convenience store was located,” Kim said to AsAmNews.
“I went into the store and turned my Tile app on. It detected the violins. I assumed the violins were located above in one of the apartments above the store.I grabbed a couple of officers nearby and told them the situation. They came back to the store and asked the female cashier. The officer then asked if she has seen any instruments because we tracked them there. She said her husband has but he wasn’t there. She called him, he came to the store, went up to his apartment and returned with my violins. He bought them Sunday evening for $150.”
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