Police have arrested a 48-year-old man for allegedly stealing a flute and piccolo worth $42,000 from a bar patron on the Upper West Side early Sunday morning.
The instruments, worth $42,000, were inside the 28-year-old victim's bag when the bag was stolen at about 3 a.m. in a bar at 733 Amsterdam Ave., police said.
Responding police officers interviewed other customers and witnesses, and were able to identify the suspect as 48-year-old Gary Richards of the Upper West Side, authorities said. Security footage at his residential building showed him carrying what appeared to be the victim's bag.
Richards and the victim did not know each other, police said.
He was arrested and charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.
Police said they didn't know if he had an attorney.
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