St. Louis musical acts being targeted by thieves

ST. LOUIS -- A group of thieves appears to be targeting musical acts while they are performing in the city, St. Louis police said.

The recent rash of thefts is giving the city a reputation among musicians that it's not a safe place to perform, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. St. Louis police Capt. Dan Howard said investigators believe the same group has targeted several bands in recent months. In most cases, vans holding valuable equipment were broken into.

While officers build a case against the suspects, police are working with club owners to improve security, he said.

Hip hop performer Spose said he's "done with St. Louis" after his band's van was broken into Oct. 20 outside of Pappy's Smokehouse. He wrote on his Facebook page a day after the theft that if fans wanted to see him perform in the future they should travel to Chicago or to another location because, "St. Louis is dead to me."

Field Division, a Nashville, Tennessee-based folkwave group, had their van broken into while performing as an opening act at Plush on Sept. 11. Member Nicholas Frampton said thieves broke into their van and stole three backpacks containing two laptop computers, clothes and everyday items.

"The three of us in the band were living out of these backpacks like Boy Scouts, so they were arguably the most important pieces of luggage we had," Frampton said in an email.

He called police after briefly stopping by the van and noticing the missing backpacks. Frampton went back inside the venue to perform another set with the band, but then the van was broken into again.

This time though, since all of the "good stuff" had been taken, the thief only took off with a large duffel bag that contained Frampton's clothing.

"As a result of the vicious break-ins, and the apparently rough neighborhood that is Locust Street, we have battled with whether or not we wanted to return to the venue, or the city at all, to perform again," Frampton said.

Owner Robert Fancher of Fubar said he's hired someone to patrol the venue all night. He said there's only so much bar owners could do.

"It's bad for our city," he said in an email. "They are targeting all venues, not just Fubar. All of them."

Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com