It seems that these days, fans or collectors will go through just about anything to get their hands on memorabilia in order to revive the nostalgia they once felt with the subject relating to the collectible items. From stealing gear in vans to spending millions on Ebay, memorabilia lovers will go through anything to achieve their goal. This time, though, according to the New York Times, someone has been recently arrested in Berlin in connection to the lost diaries of John Lennon from the years 1975 1979, and 1980.
This past Monday on November 20th a man was arrested due to his association with the stolen aforementioned diaries as well as glasses and other John Lennon collectibles. Berlin police have also released a statement saying that they a believe a second man is involved with the stolen affects; a former employee of John Lennon’s second half Yoko Ono. They also stated that the 58-year-old man was arrested as part of a stolen properties and fraud scam.
Martin Steltner, the press officer of the Office of the General Public Prosecutor Berlin released a video stating all items recovered. He says the other suspect is currently based in Turkey and due to his location is unable to be prosecuted because of Turkey’s extradition policies. He also claims that all items were stolen directly from Ono in her New York home years ago in 2006. The Berlin police were able to seize the items because of their somewhat recent release onto the underground market in 2015. The items are now in the care of the Berlin police and will continue to be so until the investigation is closed. There have been around 100 items recovered by the police including Lennon’s spectacles, diaries, cigarettes case, Beatles sheet music (one of which was signed by Paul McCartney), and a very rare recording of a Beatles concert in 1965.
On Tuesday November 21st, the police released a statement regarding the seizure of the affects. They claim to have recovered around 86 of Lennon’s items after the Berlin auction house Auctionata filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. While their lawyers were going through the remaining items in the house they discovered the missing items from Ono’s house. The items were handed to the police this past July. The names of the suspects will not be released.
Ms. Ono, after the recovery of her items, was able to assist the Berlin police by identifying all 86 objects at the start of the investigation. When the 58-year-old suspect was arrested, the police discovered even more of Lennon memorabilia in the trunk of the man’s car.
John Lennon was murdered by Mark David Chapman in New York City on December 8th, 1980 after returning from a sessions from Record Plant Studios. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Roosevelt Hospital and was soon cremated for Ono. No funeral was held, but there were and still are numerous tribute shows in Lennon’s honor.
Chapman confessed to his murder of the famed Beatle and was sentenced to 20 years to life and has since been denied his appeal for parole a total of nine times.
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