Dazzling Finger Work At The Met

Call him the B-flat bandit. Or better yet, the Phantom of the Metropolitan Performing Arts Center.

That’s as close as I dare come to identifying one of Spokane’s most successful and elusive career criminals.

City artists and musicians go further. They pass around the name and a picture of a stern-faced, 40-year-old man who goes with it.

This is the guy, they claim. This is the creep who has been systematically ripping off the arts community for years.

Police think so, too. Trouble is, the Phantom is extraordinarily good at what he does. Nobody ever catches him in the act. No stolen property is ever found on him.

Two officers put the suspect under surveillance once. They came up empty. There aren’t enough resources to launch a full-blown investigation of a suspected petty thief.

Yet whenever the Phantom shows up at a rehearsal or a performance, things disappear: A laptop computer. A mountain bike.

Credit cards. Cash.

Purses. … “He’s a smart guy, one of the brightest I’ve ever met,” says Michael Smith, who manages the Met. “He’s also a one-man crime spree. He knows this building better than I do.”

A slick-talking defense lawyer would make hash out of the evidence against the Phantom. But though proof may be circumstantial, it’s overwhelmingly convincing.

With the annual Music and Allied Arts Festival going on, patrons are being warned to keep a lookout for a smooth-talking, stocky man, 5-foot-8, with short dark hair and a mustache.

The Phantom dresses casually. He oozes confidence. He likes to prowl dark hallways and unattended dressing rooms, where instrument cases, purses and valuables are left.

He never buys tickets. He lies his way into concerts, claiming to be a parent of a performer one day or a member of the security team the next.

When confronted, he always keeps his cool. He tells a dubious story to explain his presence. “I was just dropping off some keys,” he will say, flashing a smile as he heads for the nearest exit.

It was Smith who cracked the Phantom’s ID. The Met manager had been yanking his hair out trying to learn who was stealing during shows.

As months went by, a common denominator surfaced: Why was this swarthy, well-muscled man always wandering around whenever something was taken?

Smith challenged him several times. The Phantom would leave without offering a name.

Then, during a 1997 Christmas performance, Smith got his big break. He spotted the Phantom and chased him outside.

“He’d gotten so confident and lazy that he parked his car in a loading zone,” says Smith, who watched the suspect climb into his car to make a getaway.

Luck intervened. Another driver boxed in the intruder. It gave Smith enough time to copy the Phantom’s license plate number.

That led to a name, photograph and criminal history. The person is no rookie. He’s a convicted felon with a yard-long rap sheet of burglary, forgery and theft.

Perhaps all that time in prison taught him how to break the law without getting caught.

In the past six months, the Phantom has struck at music venues all over town.

He has become so brazen that he now grins and waves sarcastically whenever Smith sees him.

Brazen isn’t a good enough word. The Phantom once helped a woman carry boxes of cookies into the Met. She walked back to the door to find her purse gone.

The Phantom was seen at an April 25 bassoon recital. Two credit cards disappeared.

“I don’t think there’s any way to catch this guy,” Tina Morrison, of the city musician’s union says. “He’s a hustler. The only thing we can do is make people aware and try to put him out of business.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: TIP LINES Spokane Police Officer Rick Albin would like to hear of any Phantom incidents. Call him at 625-3351. Or call Tina Morrison of the city musician’s union, at 328-5253 for information on the Phantom.