Man Responsible For Theft Of Stradivarius Sentenced To 7 Years In Prison

The man who organized the theft of a Stradivarius violin in Milwaukee this year was sentenced to seven years in prison on Monday.

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Frank Almond was carrying the rare violin outside a performance hall in January, when a Milwaukee man named Salah Salahadyn jolted him with a stun gun. Salahadyn took the Stradivarius and hid it for nine days before police found it intact. Salahadyn confessed to the robbery. At his criminal sentencing, Almond asked that Salahadyn get the maximum sentence of 10 years.

There was extraordinary premeditation to this particular crime, including years of planning and various degrees of stalking which Mr. Salahadyn seems quite proud of,” said Almond.

“Almond said the attack could have permanently injured him or damaged the almost 300-year-old violin.

Salahadyn told the court that he worked as an apartment manager and feared that as the building became gentrified, he would lose his job and many tenants would lose their apartment. He said he therefore stole the violin to sell it for money.

“There was things that I wanted to purchase — that very apartment building that I had worked in — so that I could determine who could live in there. And people who had been unjustly evicted, I could bring them back home,” he said.

Circuit Judge Dennis Moroney told Salahadyn that he shouldn’t steal to help the poor.

“Now that may sound like a noble thing — it may even sound like Robin Hood, to be honest with you. But it’s not the way life is,” said Moroney.

In addition to seven years in prison, Salahadyn was sentenced to five years of extended supervision. His main accomplice, Universal Allah, is already serving three years in prison for the violin theft.