Known Thief and Grifter - New England area, USA

I am posting this after an unfortunate event that happened in our shop, involving a gentleman who took one of our violins out "on approval for sale". We will hopefully be able to recover our instrument via police involvement, but after speaking with several local PDs who know of this man and his involvement with several thousands of dollars worth of stolen violins, I felt compelled to post since he is a known grifter. Please do not let him in to your shops, or take anything out on approval! His scam is to take these instruments out with the typical signed contract with intent to purchase, but he then turns around resells them. This is a legal gray area where, because of the contract, unless you can prove that the instrument was resold, the police have no legal or criminal recourse, and your only option is to pursue him in civil court, involving lawyers and money.