HOUSTON – Chadwick Hines is the manager at H & H music, a shop that sells and rents out musical instruments.
Sometimes, they even buy them, too, but he never expected someone to try to sell them one of their own instruments.
"Somebody's out there stealing stuff so that they can get by on their own. It's kind of tough to take," Hines said.
Hines said a family who recently rented out a euphonium, also known as a baritone, for their kid at school had the instrument stolen after someone broke into their car.
Coincidentally, in the very same week, Hines got a strange phone call at the store.
"From somebody who wanted to sell a euphonium, at which point I said, 'OK.' My BS meter went off right away," Hines said.
Days later, a pair of men came into the store with the instrument in hand, ready to make a deal.
"My associate went in my office so she can call me. While she was in there, these guys were fidgeting around a lot," Hines said.
After declining an offer from the store to buy it, the pair left the business with the baritone in tow.
It wasn't long after returning to the office and cross-referencing store paperwork that Hines realized it was in fact their stolen euphonium.
"Looked up the serial number, and sure enough, it was an instrument that belongs to us," Hines said.
While Hines isn't sure if these two are the people who stole the instrument, he said at the very least, they are trying to sell stolen property.
"Straighten your life out, straighten your life out. Get these instruments back into the hands of the kids that need them," Hines said.