Section: NEWS
Of The Post-Dispatch Staff
He also agreed to help authorities find the remaining missing violins and other instruments he stole from members of the St. Louis Symphony and others. The FBI still is looking for many of the estimated 30 to 40 instruments Bearden stole.
By pleading guilty to 14 counts of wire and mail fraud, Bearden, 42, of south St. Louis County, avoids a maximum sentence of 70 years in prison and a $3.5 million fine.
He now faces a sentence under federal guidelines of 21 to 27 months in prison, his attorney says.
He will be sentenced Dec. 11.
Bearden's victims ranged from the estates of wealthy collectors such as the late Stanley Goodman - former head of the May Co. and one-time president of the Symphony - to modestly paid musicians.
After he was extradited from Japan last month, Bearden pleaded innocent and was in jail awaiting trial. In a surprise move, he appeared in U.S. District Court here, wearing orange prison garb, and confessed to all charges.
Musicians around the world had trusted Bearden to sell their instruments on consignment, usually on his promise over the phone that he had a buyer waiting.
In court, Bearden said he had fallen behind in paying customers and never caught up.
"I wouldn't have enough money to pay the person for the instrument I (sold) before," Bearden said, "so I used the money from one violin that I sold to pay back the one before it.
"It got out of hand," he told U.S. District Judge Carol E. Jackson.
| Bearden insisted that what he did is common among rare instruments dealers. "If I may say, your honor," he told the judge, "it's the kind of practice that a lot of dealers and stuff in this industry does . . . I think more and more people are doing it . . ." Judge Jackson interrupted with a rebuke. "You might want to tell your colleagues," she said. They "ought to benefit from your experience." |
Bearden is a world-class bow maker and, until his business collapsed last year, a trusted
international violin dealer. He was elected secretary of the American Federation of Violin
and Bow Makers, an elite trade group.
After prison, he plans to use his bow-making skills to try to repay his victims.
"He can't write a check right now," said his attorney, Scott Rosenblum.
Bearden plans to resume his previous craft, bow making. He can make a bow a week and sell
it for about $3,000.
At that rate, he could repay $1.5 million in under 10 years, assuming he uses every penny
he makes for restitution.
Bearden's financial difficulties began about 1991. He had operated a shop next to Powell
Hall, home of the St. Louis Symphony. He later moved his shop to Big Bend Boulevard in
Shrewsbury.
He came from a family of violin dealers, but his business was not associated with those of
his relatives.
In court, Bearden was vague about whether he had intentionally swindled customers or had
simply suffered business reverses.
But FBI agent Jeff Jensen and Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Wilkerson provided details of
an elaborate Ponzi scheme.
In such schemes, victims who yell the loudest and earliest often stand the best chance of
getting repaid.
In one case, a musician in St. Louis repeatedly complained to Bearden about a missing
instrument worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. A few months ago, Bearden sent back a
different instrument with a forged date.
The musician discovered the switch and returned the instrument to its rightful owner,
another St. Louis musician.
Other victims were not so lucky.
David Visentin plays violin for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. He lost his life savings
to Bearden - $290,000. Visentin, 38, been trying for years to get back his money.
He was overjoyed to learn of Thursday's guilty plea, but was skeptical that Bearden would
ever return his money.
As part of his plea, Bearden acknowledged that he had intended to defraud his victims as
soon as he got their money or instruments. That admission may help some victims collect
from insurance companies that have refused to settle because the victims had willingly
given their instruments to Bearden.
The FBI began investigating Bearden in November after a complaint by a St. Louis Symphony
musician.
Soon, the FBI and prosecutors were getting a call a day from musicians here and in New
York City, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Kansas, Michigan, Canada and elsewhere.
The FBI tracked Bearden to Tokyo, where he had flown in October. He was still in Tokyo,
working in a violin shop, when he was arrested late last month.
While there, he defrauded at least two more victims, the FBI says.
Why did he decide to plead guilty?
For one thing, the evidence was overwhelming, Rosenblum said.
In addition, the government lowered the amount he must repay, to a maximum of $1.5 million
from $2.1 million.
"And we're not looking at substantial prison time," Rosenblum added.
In court before his plea, Bearden seemed calm. He chatted with his mother and the man who
caught him, FBI agent Jensen.
After watching her son stand before the judge for 35 minutes, Reba Bearden said she was
proud of him.
"He's a kind, warm, loving, gentle man," she said. "I think everyone will
be surprised by how all this works out in the end."