Sorensen now recovers his missing van
Bluesman wouldn't have minded waiting a few more days for this one
Area bluesman Ken “Stringbean” Sorensen [above] has been made almost whole after his van was stolen last month in Asbury Park, loaded with his vintage instruments and equipment.
The instruments were recovered — and now, so has his van. All that remains missing is a PA system, Sorensen said.
News of the theft went viral, with social media attention leading to the recovery of Sorensen’s 1958 Gretsch guitar and 1963 Ampeg amplifier from a store in Ocean Township. The owner spotted the goods after his friends told him to look out for the stolen instruments.
Now Sorensen’s 2000 Ford Diesel van, which is also retrofitted to run on cooking oil, was recovered last week by Neptune police, he said. Sorensen picked it up on Thursday.
Not that Sorensen — frontman for his group Stringbean and the Stalkers — wouldn’t have minded if the van went missing just a few days longer.
“I was happy to get everything back — except the van,” said Sorensen on Tuesday. “I didn’t really want to get that back. I was about to get an insurance check for it today. Now I’m stuck with that smelly thing.”
The van was recovered after Neptune police made an unrelated call to a house last week and recognized it, Sorensen said.
“It was parked there the entire time,” he said. “I guess the Neptune cop knew me, or knew of me. It was only because they went on an unrelated call.”
Grateful for the return of everything — except the van — Sorensen remains bemused by the whole thing, as the story spread to News Channel 12 and New York City local television stations.
“It’s like a funny episode because there was so much attention paid to it,” he said.
No arrests have yet been made in the case, according to Sorensen.
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