Man Charged with Robbing Musician of $10,000 Violin on Blue Line Train
Timothy Johnson, a man with distinctive face tattoos, has been charged with robbery after allegedly stealing musician Cyrus Spurlock’s custom-made $10,000 violin on a Blue Line train in the Loop. The incident occurred at the Clark-Lake station around 9 p.m. on April 11.
Chicago Police Department released images of the stolen violin, but it is unclear if the instrument has been recovered. Johnson, 39, is facing robbery charges and is scheduled to appear for a detention hearing at 26th and California later today where more details about the case are expected to be revealed.
Prior to this incident, Johnson was arrested on charges of assaulting a transit employee at the Logan Square Blue Line station on February 28. He pleaded guilty on March 21 in exchange for a 30-day sentence, according to court records.
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Tim Hecke is CWBChicago’s managing partner. He started his career at KMOX, the legendary news radio station in St. Louis. From there, he moved on to work at stations in Minneapolis, Chicago, and New York City. Tim went on to build syndicated radio news and content services that served every one of America’s 100 largest radio markets. He became CWBChicago’s managing partner in 2019.
His email address is tim@cwbchicago.com
