KITCHENER — A Kitchener man has been arrested and charged after a break-in at Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute on Halloween.
“It's believed that for the musical instruments that flutes and a saxophone was taken,” said Brad Hickey with the Waterloo Regional Police Service.
The exact number of many instruments were taken is not known as this time.
Charges for the Kitchener man include break and enter, along with trafficking in stolen goods over $5,000.
Now the search is on for the missing wind instruments, with a focus on buy and sell groups online.
According to Graham McRae with Long & McQuade Musical Instruments in Waterloo, the music community in Waterloo Region is tight knit.
McRae is confident if someone sees something, they will say something.
“Usually when instruments of any sort of value get stolen or go missing, the entire community is aware of it and make each other aware of it," McRae said.
The team at Long & McQuade said depending on what was stolen the cost to replace each individual instrument can range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.
According to McRae, although the stolen instruments were likely insured by the Waterloo Region District School Board, the loss is still devastating.
CTV Kitchener reached out to school board for comment but did not hear back before airtime.
“They've had music programs in all these schools basically put on hold for the last year. So this is the first time they've actually been able to get started again so hopefully they can get instruments back in these kids hands,” said McRae.
Police are asking anyone who purchased an instrument from an online buy and sell group between Oct. 31 and Nov. 2 to contact them.
McRea said they have worked with Cameron Heights in the past and are willing to help replace what cannot be found.
