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Man Charged with Stealing Bluesman Harry Manx's Rare Indian Guitar

By Dave Newbart | February 25, 2014 2:52pm | Updated on February 25, 2014 9:12pm
 Anthony Hargrove (r.) is accused of stealing a rare guitar belonging to Harry Manx, a Canadian blues singer.
Anthony Hargrove (r.) is accused of stealing a rare guitar belonging to Harry Manx, a Canadian blues singer.
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James Green/Getty Images and Chicago Police Department

CHICAGO — A Back of the Yards man was charged with stealing a rare guitar belonging to Canadian bluesman Harry Manx from an O'Hare baggage claim, police said.

The man was caught after he returned three days after that incident to the same terminal to steal additional bags, police said.

The charges were announced hours after the blues musician shared on social media that his guitar had been found.

"My Veena Has Been Found!" Manx, 59, announced on Facebook on Tuesday.

Anthony Hargrove, 59, of the 1500 block of West Garfield Boulevard, is due in court Wednesday in connection to two similar incidents at the airport.

At 10:47 a.m. Friday, Manx spotted his guitar case on a baggage claim carousel at Terminal 2, police said. After shortly turning his attention from it, the case was no longer there, prompting him to go to police.

Cops reviewed surveillance tape and spotted the thief take the case and head toward the O'Hare Blue Line station. Expecting the thief to return, plainclothes police were assigned to watch the area over the next few days.

At 1 p.m. Monday, police saw a man take three bags from the terminal that didn't belong to him. That man was arrested.

Police said detectives were able to connect Hargrove with the stolen guitar and were able to recover it the same day.

Hargrove has been charged with four counts of felony theft.

In his latest Facebook post, Manx said that the man arrested "eventually gave up the location of the instrument and it was recovered."

Manx, who lives on Salt Spring Island off the Western coast of Canada, said police have the guitar and he plans to return to Chicago next Tuesday to pick it up. After playing gigs in Wisconsin, Manx was in Montreal earlier this week.

"There’s no way for me to express the gratitude I have to everyone for helping out, but I would like to say that the generous outpouring of support has uplifted my spirits and renewed my faith in the kindness of strangers," he said.

On Monday, he said his original Facebook post announcing the theft had since been seen by 5.3 million people, and that he had received 5,000 Facebook messages.

Manx said in an interview with DNAinfo Chicago late Monday that police told him earlier that day that they had arrested a man in connection with the theft Friday. The man was suspected in other thefts at O'Hare, Manx said. However, at that time the instrument, which he had handmade in India two decades ago, had not been located.