Sound Company Employee Charged with Felony Theft of Equipment

A 21-year-old Milwaukee man has been charged with felony theft after police concluded that he had stolen and sold thousands of dollars worth of sound, light and video equipment from his Brookfield employer.

Christopher M. Harris was charged Monday in Waukesha County Circuit Court with theft of property greater than $2,500, a Class I felony punishable by up to three years and six months in prison.

According to the complaint:

The owner of Majic Enterprises, 3265 Gateway Rd., which provides audiovisual support for concerts and special events, told police that from December 2011 through December 2012, he noticed he was missing equipment.

In March 2012, he did a thorough inventory and, he said, determined there was too much missing for it to be a mistake. He was missing about $5,000 worth of sound mixers, speakers, microphones and other equipment, he said.

At the time, he told police, he had no suspect in mind, but after even more equipment disappeared, he installed a video surveillance system. Reviewing recordings of Oct. 22, he said, he saw Harris taking four microphones.

Rather than confronting Harris, he went to police. Detectives did a reference check on Harris through the Wisconsin Property Register system, which tracks sales of second-hand goods.

Harris' record showed numerous transactions beginning in February 2012, most of them at Music Go Round in Greenfield, and all being sales of stage, sound and light equipment.

Detectives went to Music Go Round, where the manager produced all the original transaction reports involving Harris, on which he had claimed to own the equipment. Store video confirmed it was Harris making the sales.

Music Go Round still had $5,145 worth of Majic Enterprises' property in stock, which was recovered and returned to the owner. He told police that based on his final inventory, he was still missing equipment worth $8,129 more.

Harris is scheduled to make his initial appearance in court June 3.