Help Sonmi find or replace stolen equipment UPDATED with arrest and recovery

UPDATE from APD

On June 14, 2012 Officers from the Asheville Police Department took a report for the larceny of various musical instruments from a vehicle parked at the Meadow’s Apartments located at 99 Ascension Drive. APD Detectives were notified that some of the property was sold to Cash Masters. The person who sold the items was identified as Megan Alisha Cody of Mars Hill. She later admitted to Detectives that she participated in the theft of the equipment. Detectives were able to retrieve the remaining stolen items and returned them to the owner.

On June 28, 2012 Detectives arrested Cody and charged her with breaking and entering of motor vehicle and obtaining property by false pretense.

Ashvegas reports that monies raised to help the musicians replace their equipment will be donated to the Bob Moog Foundation and the Asheville Music School.

Original post:

Local electronic group Sonmi (already veterans of Moogfest and Bele Chere) played what may have been the best-attended AHA AVL show last night at Moog Music. It was a stellar hour-long show including an encore during which the band broke out a new song they’d composed on the Moog equipment they’d borrowed for the show. Spirits were high — the performance (which will air later on the Shuffle Magazine website) was a wild success and the band announced the drop of its new record.

All that makes it even more crushing that, following such a fantastic evening, $2,500 worth of Sonmi’s equipment was stolen, including an 81-key MIDI controller and a Prophet analog synth. The synthesizer is the biggest blow because it’s what accounts for the band’s analog components and is, according to percussionist Dave Mathes, “a huge part of our sound.” Luckily, the band has its sounds backed up, so those can be plugged into a new module.

The burglary happened in the parking lot of Meadows Apartments — the passenger side lock of Mike McBride’s (synths/production) car turns out to be defective. A police report has been filed and Mathes says the band has people checking in with local pawn shops.

In the mean time, Sonmi needs to replace its equipment ASAP as they’ve been booked to play Camp Bisco in a month and “need to be practicing now.” Since the group was already paying off equipment (including the stolen MIDI controller) and just financed an album, they’re not in a position to replace the lost equipment. They will be sending out digital copies of the new album and, while it’s free, hope that fans will be inspired to make a contribution through their Bandcamp.com page (Xpress will post that link as soon as it’s ready).

Donate to Sonmi’s secure, online Thief Relief fund here.

Any other help with securing replacement equipment or finding the stolen instruments would be greatly appreciated. Contact through Facebook and Twitter: @sonmiband.

Photo from piercerecording.com.