Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach has the dubious honor of joining several other Los Angeles area high schools that have been being victimized by tuba thieves. Four King sousaphone tubas valued at $5,000 each were stolen from a storage closet at Mira Costa over the holiday break. Five tubas were stolen from South Gate High School in two separate burglaries, eight were stolen from Centennial High School in Compton and two were taken from Huntington Park High School. All of the musical instruments at Sycamore Junior High School in Anaheim were stolen, as the burglars bypassed the nearby computer equipment.
The spate of tuba burglaries is surprising, because thieves generally seek out computers and other electronics during school break-ins. The epidemic of tuba burglaries has been attributed to the popularity of traditional Mexican music, known as “banda.” In today’s “banda” music, the tuba steps out front and leads the dance train instead of being in the back of the band carrying the bass line. Stolen tubas can fetch between $3000 and $5000 dollars on the black market.
So far, no arrests have been made in any of the incidents although several schools report they have the serial numbers of the instruments which may help police track them, and police report that they have surveillance footage from the Manhattan Beach break-in although the two suspects had hoods covering their faces. None of the bands is in the financial position to replace the stolen instruments although there is some insurance coverage for some of the stolen instruments.
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