South Side man charged in connection with stolen violin on Blue Line train

A Douglas neighborhood man was charged with robbery Thursday and accused of taking an expensive violin on a CTA Blue Line train, Chicago police said.

Earlier, police asked for the public’s help finding the stolen violin worth about $10,000.

The violin was taken around 9 p.m. on April 11 at the Clark and Lake station. The instrument was inside a black case and has a distinctive wood grain finish on the back. It does not have a serial number because it was custom-made, police said.

Timothy Johnson, 39 of the South Side, was charged with a felony count of robbery and three misdemeanor counts of resisting/obstructing an officer, police said.

The violin has yet to be located.

Johnson was arrested Wednesday in the 100 block of West Ida B. Wells Drive after he was identified as the robber who took the violin on the Blue Line, police said.

He was scheduled to appear Thursday at a detention hearing.