Cops bust man with stolen Lollapalooza instruments

Portugal The Man says most gear recovered

08/16/2011 1:32 PM

By Ben Meyerson
Editor

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                           Juan Ocampo

A week after a Lollapalooza band had its van and thousands of dollars worth of music equipment stolen from a parking lot near the festival, Chicago Police have arrested a South Side man in connection with the theft — and recovered most of the gear.

Police announced the arrest Tuesday afternoon of Juan Ocampo, 39, of the 4800 block of South Throop, and charged him with one count of felony theft after allegedly finding “a large amount of stolen property” at his house.

The equipment had been missing since last Monday when Portugal The Man reported its van and trailer had been stolen from a monitored Grant Park parking lot. The van was recovered the next day in an alley on the 5800 block of South Paulina Street, but was abandoned and empty of equipment.

The Chicago Police FBI Violent Crimes Task Force, working with the department’s Major Case Squad, tracked down the equipment at Ocampo’s home on Throop, according to a news release from police.

There, officers found $80,000 worth of musical equipment, according to Cook County State’s Attorney spokesman Andrew Conklin. Ocampo allegedly told police that he had purchased the equipment for $1,000 from the Swap O’Rama flea market at 41st Street and South Ashland Avenue and that he suspected it was stolen.

He also allegedly told authorities that he planned to sell it off bit by bit, and was afraid to sleep in his own home with so much equipment in it, according to Conklin.

In a Facebook post from Tuesday morning, the band said it received a call from their tour manager Friday night that most of their equipment had been found by police.

“It is good news and it is more than a win for PTM, it is also a win for Twitter, the world of social media, the Chicago police, and old school journalism,” bandmember John Baldwin Gourley wrote.

“Thank you Chicago PD and please don’t be offended when we send a pile of doughnuts over,” Gourley wrote.

This report has been corrected to reflect the correct spelling of Juan Ocampo's name.


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