After a van containing thousands of dollars worth of instruments and equipment was stolen from the band Portugal. The Man during Lollapalooza, the band reported today that most of their equipment has been recovered by the Chicago Police Department.
“Laying in bed at 9:30pm Friday night, fittingly depressed over the theft of our gear, I received a phone call from our tour manager 'The Chicago PD found our gear! Its not all there but it sounds like most of it is!'” frontman John Gourley posted on the band’s website Tuesday. “A win for the band in a situation that seemingly happens monthly in the van and trailer touring world and so rarely followed by good news and equipment being returned.”
South Side mechanic Juan Ocampo, 39, was charged with felony theft after $80,000 worth of the band’s equipment, including some of the instruments, were found inside his apartment, Assistant State’s Attorney Erin Antonietti told the Chicago Tribune. Ocampo told officers he had bought a guitar, drum and keyboard at a Swap-o-Rama flea market for $1,000 from a man who indicated “he had more of the same,” the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Ocampo has not been charged with stealing the equipment, and told authorities he was “scared” to sell it because he believed it was stolen, Antonietti said told the Sun-Times.
The band’s van and trailer were found empty on August 8, when Portugal. The Man renewed their social media campaign to crowdsource information, updating fans on their Facebook page and becoming a trending topic on Twitter.
“It is more than just a win for PTM, it is also a win for Twitter, the world of social media, the Chicago police, and old school journalism,” Gourley wrote on the band’s website “We had taken notice of this as soon as the first tweets started rolling, as the blogs were posted and the news story aired. It's the sort of thing that brings you close to tears (in the manliest way, of course).”
The band plans to send “a pile of doughnuts” to the CPD in thanks, according to their website.
Flickr photo by RADIO 947.