A Quebec musician says he tracked down more than $10,000 worth of stolen equipment after his trumpet and other items disappeared from his vehicle during a visit to the Montreal International Jazz Festival Monday night.
Trumpeter Rémi Cormier said the missing items included his trumpet, an iPad and a microphone. He was able to recover the trumpet at a homeless encampment the following day after tracking the iPad’s location.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God, the horn,’” Cormier said in an interview with The Gazette on Wednesday evening, recalling the moment he realized the trumpet was missing.
Cormier said he left the instrument hidden in the trunk of his car before heading into the Jazz Festival.
“I didn’t want to carry my horn the whole night because it’s so crowded,” he said.
The theft did not become apparent until he returned home to Rawdon, about 80 kilometres north of Montreal, later that night. While stopping for gas, he noticed a box of vinyl records inside the vehicle had been disturbed.
“I’m like, ‘What’s going on? Did somebody get into my car or something?’”
When he checked the trunk, the trumpet was gone.
What remains unclear, he said, is how someone gained access to the vehicle.
“When I came back, I had to unlock it,” he said. “I don’t know how they got in.”
After posting about the theft online, Cormier said fellow musicians and friends encouraged him to use Apple’s tracking software to locate the missing iPad, which had been stored alongside the trumpet.
Cormier said he contacted police after discovering the theft and was advised to file a report.
“In my head, I’m like, ‘In a week, the horn is going to be melted,’” he said. “It’s not going to exist any more.
“If you’re not going to help me and you don’t want me to do it myself, what options do I have?”
By the next morning, he said, the iPad’s location had stopped moving and appeared to be at an address on Aylmer St.
Cormier called a friend, who went to the address linked to the iPad’s location. While waiting for Cormier to arrive, the friend saw people leaving the building and confronted them, saying he believed the missing iPad was inside, Cormier said.
“At some point, [the people his friend confronted] went inside to get the iPad,” Cormier said.
But the trumpet was not returned with it.
Cormier said the people told his friend they would retrieve the trumpet, but did not come back.
‘The horn was just inside the tent’
When Cormier arrived, he and his friend searched nearby encampments and encountered people he believed were connected with those involved in the recovery of the iPad.
“The horn was just inside the tent beside them the whole time,” he said.
After what he described as a lengthy argument and negotiation, the trumpet was returned.
“We insisted very much until they gave it back,” he said.
The experience prompted an outpouring of support from Montreal’s music community.
“I got, like, a hundred offers for trumpets,” he said. “I’ve never had so much choice in my life.”
Cormier said fellow musicians offered replacement instruments, while a local music store offered to lend him one.
“People were very, very nice to me,” he said.
The recovered trumpet is set to be back on stage Thursday night when Cormier performs at the Gesù as part of the Montreal International Jazz Festival.
The Montreal Gazette contacted the police for comment but didn’t receive a response in time for publication on Thursday morning.
I’m a reporting intern at the Montreal Gazette, covering breaking news and the issues affecting communities across Montreal. I believe some of the most interesting stories begin with an ordinary conversation.
amclaughlin@postmedia.com