Electric Church Robbery Recovery & Support SIMS

The Electric Church was robbed of thousands of dollars of studio gear, tools and equipment on multiple occasions over the past two weeks. A few days ago we caught the thief red handed. We were heartbroken to discover that the person stealing from us was a local musician from our community who has fallen on hard times during the pandemic. This person has been stealing from us to maintain their addiction problem, is now homeless and in need of serious help. 

 

The Austin Police Department gave us the option to press charges which would enable them to look for and reclaim our stolen items. However, because of recent convictions this person would then be faced with a long time in jail. Unfortunately, this country’s system of incarceration is focused on punishment rather than rehabilitation. We do not believe that putting a sick person in jail will help anyone’s situation, so we have decided not to go that direction. 

 

We choose not to participate in perpetuating the systemic problems that our society faces. 

 

Does it suck that that thousands of dollars of gear and equipment were stolen from us? Yes, absolutely.

 

Do we want to get it back? Yes, for sure.  

 

Do we need that equipment to keep doing what we do? Definitely.  

 

Should sick people who have fallen prey to addiction be thrown in jail over stolen items? No. They need diverse forms of help and understanding. 

 

It is for this reason that we have started this GoFundMe to recover some of what we have lost and to pledge 10 % to the SIMS Foundation  which provides mental health and substance use recovery services and support for musicians, music industry professionals, and their dependent family members.  We are in contact with the family of this person and hope to help them back on their feet ASAP.

 

Please consider donating what you can and share our GoFundMe page. We won’t be solving all of the world's problems but it seems like a good place to start. We love you and we’ll see you soon.