BRIDGET OWENS/Daily Bruin Band members Steve
Romero and Steve Kaufman unload stolen
band equipment from a USC van Monday. The equipment was noticed
missing Sunday after a USC-UCLA band flag football game held on the
Trojans’ campus. Some equipment is still not found. Police are
searching for suspects in the case.
By Philip Kim
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA Marching Band had thousands of dollars in equipment
stolen from its truck Sunday night during the annual “Band
Bowl” at the University of Southern California.
As police investigate allegations that USC band members were
involved in the crime, the band hopes to replace equipment before
Saturday’s game.
“This kind of activity has to stop,” said Jennifer
Judkins, assistant director of the UCLA Marching Band. “This
is not a rivalry, this is not a prank, this is grand
theft.”
In addition to stealing instruments, someone defaced a case
displaying Hebrew letters by tearing off the stickers and writing
“Jew” across it.
“The surprising thing for us was the hate language,”
Judkins said.
“That was really unfortunate,” she added.
Monday afternoon, two USC detectives driving a red and gold
university van delivered some of the stolen equipment to the
Schoenberg Hall loading dock. USC officials had recovered the
instruments from the front lawn of an apartment building near USC
that morning.
Police are investigating whether during Sunday’s game at
USC’s Cromwell Field, Trojan band members were involved in
breaking into the UCLA bus and instrument truck with a brick and
stealing $30,000 to $35,000 in equipment, including approximately
10 drums. Most of the instruments are university-owned.
USC Department of Public Safety Detective Bob DeVega said though
he has seen pranks between the two schools before, nothing like
this has ever occurred.
“This is not really a prank ““ it’s a
crime,” he said.
The “Band Bowl” is a 42-year-old traditional flag
football game between the UCLA and USC bands the week before the
big rival football game.
This is not the first time the UCLA band has encountered
problems during the “Band Bowl.” USC students once
threw water balloons at UCLA band members from high buildings
behind the USC field.
Gordon Henderson, director of the UCLA band filed a police
report. University officials said this does not seem to be a random
case of robbery.
“Only instruments were taken from the truck … The purses
and cash were left. Obviously the instruments were the
target,” Judkins said.
Though USC officials returned some of the instruments, Judkins
said six uniforms, four drums and other equipment worth at least
$5,000 are still missing.
“They have six of our uniforms right now and one of our
biggest fears is that they’ll show up on the field Saturday
with the uniforms,” said Steve Kaufman, a fourth-year
economics student and member of the band.
USC officials indicated it’s possible they will pay
restitution for equipment still missing.
On Sunday, the UCLA truck was parked where it was visible from
the field, but someone pried open the door on the opposite side
where they could not be seen, according to Judkins.
She said police are investigating allegations that point to USC
students as the culprits.
“Some of the people at the game observed some suspicious
activity,” she said. “They saw people in USC garbs
apparently carrying UCLA cases.”
The theft has left the UCLA band with a shortage of equipment
and uniforms for the big game.
“This is major,” said Daniel Gomez, a second-year
computer science and linguistics student who plays the cymbals.
“We have an important performance this Saturday at the
football game but we have no instruments.”
Judkins said the band hopes to replace all of the equipment
before Saturday’s game, but whether this happens will not
seriously affect the band’s performance.
“It isn’t a situation where you would see some of
the UCLA band members without instruments or without
uniforms,” she said. “But we are having to scramble
this week, particularly with the drums.”
Even if the band replaces all the instruments, they will still
feel the effects of the theft.
“We have extra instruments, but the ones that were stolen
are the best we had,” Kaufman said.
With reports from Michael Falcone, Daily Bruin Senior Staff.