A Bronx man who admitted he would sneak into the famed Juilliard School by darting through the doors behind its real music students was charged with stealing a $30,000 cello from a teacher, Manhattan prosecutors said yesterday.
The alleged cello swiper, Pablo Melendez, 22, of Holland Avenue, is also charged with stealing the personal belongings of a student from one of the Lincoln Center school’s lockers, prosecutors said.
The alleged would-be thief was caught by silly mistakes – including having signed a receipt in his own name when he sold the cello to a music store.
The cello heist happened in February, after Melendez allegedly got inside a locked closet containing the $30,150 Michele Ashley cello, along with its bow and case.
The teacher discovered her cello for sale at a West 48th Street music store.