An Irvine man was sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison for stealing and selling high-end violins and robbing a bank, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Wednesday, March 26.
Between August 2020 and April 2023, Mark Meng, 58, contacted violin shops across the country, posing as a musical instrument collector interested in buying valuable violins, prosecutors said. He requested violins on a trial basis to determine whether or not he wanted to purchase.
Authorities said that after receiving an instrument, Meng negotiated a price for it and kept the instrument beyond the agreed trial period. Meng then paid for the items using checks he knew would be rejected for insufficient funds. When a representative of the seller would contact Meng about the bad checks, he would send a new series of checks, which would also be declined. Meng would sometimes lie to the stores by claiming he had mailed the violins back, and must have been lost in the mail. Eventually, Meng would cut off all communication.
Among the instruments Meng stole were a Giulio Degani violin worth $175,000, a Lorenzo Ventapane violin from 1823 valued at another $175,000, and several other violins and bows totaling over half a million dollars. He sold multiple stolen items to an unsuspecting buyer for $44,700, despite not owning them, officials said.
On April 2, 2024, Meng entered a bank in Irvine wearing a hat, sunglasses, bandana and latex gloves. He handed a teller a note which read, “$18,000. Withdraw. Please. Stay Cool. No harm. Thx.“
The teller informed amend that she did not have access to the money he wanted, to which Meng responded, “Give me whatever you have.”
The teller gave him around $450.
In September. 2024, Meng pled guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of bank robbery. He was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison.