West Kelowna man gets his stolen instruments back

VERNON – RCMP in the North Okanagan were able to return two stolen instruments to their rightful owner last week after the horns were discovered by a construction worker and turned in to the police.

The flugelhorn and trumpet were taken out of David Forrester’s vehicle while it was parked in downtown Vernon in late November. The theft happened in the 2700 block of 32nd St. When Forrester returned to his car he noticed something wasn’t right but originally wasn’t worried because he didn’t think he had anything valuable in his car.

He contacted the RCMP and pawn shops, and he also had the theft written up in the local paper. However, because of his religious beliefs he never doubted he would see the instruments again.

“I knew they were going to be restored and I kept telling everybody they will surface,” says Forrester.

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Forrester didn’t know it yet but his instruments had already been found still safely inside their case. Dave Brown, a construction worker who was installing a new railing in Vernon, located the instruments.

“When I went to work in the morning there was a case jammed in between the fence and sidewalk,” says Brown. “I put it in my work van and kind of forgot about them for the next couple of days.”

Brown says he intended to advertise to try and see if someone had lost the instruments but in the end he didn’t have to. His brother had seen the newspaper article and made the connection. They turned the instruments into the RCMP and an officer called Forrester.

“He said, ‘We’ve got good news for you. We found your trumpets.’ I started balling like a baby. I’ve been vindicated in a sense.”