A former prison chaplain who pleaded guilty to helping an imprisoned mobster recover a hidden violin avoided any additional time behind bars Thursday when a judge found that prosecutors had not proven that the instrument was a rare 18th-century Stradivarius that purportedly belonged to the late entertainer Liberace.

The man who masterminded the theft of a $5 million Stradivarius violin admitted Monday that he used a stun gun to attack a musician carrying the 300-year-old instrument, saying he intended to sell it to help people he believed were wrongly evicted from an apartment building he managed.

A man accused of masterminding the theft of a $5 million Stradivarius violin pleaded guilty to robbery Friday, nearly eight months after the 300-year-old instrument was snatched from a musician who was attacked with a stun gun following a performance in Milwaukee.

A man pleaded guilty Wednesday to providing the stun gun used to rob a concert master of a $5 million Stradivarius violin.

A second Milwaukee man accused in the theft of a $5 million Stradivarius violin in January is also expected to plead not guilty to robbery charges.

The Milwaukee man accused in last month's theft of a $5 million violin has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors say it was the suspect's "dream theft": to simply snatch an expensive Stradivarius violin from an unsuspecting musician.

CHICAGO (AP) — A former prison chaplain has pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he plotted with convicted Chicago mobster Frank Calabrese Sr. to recover a violin reportedly hidden in a hit man’s Wisconsin house. Authorities say 62-year-old Catholic priest Eugene Klein of Springfield, Mo., was released on $20,000 bond after he appeared in a federal courtroom in Chicago ...

CHICAGO (AP) — A prison chaplain has been charged in an alleged scheme to help imprisoned Chicago mobster Frank Calabrese, who is serving a life sentence for 13 murders, recover a valuable violin reportedly hidden in a Wisconsin house to keep the government from selling it, federal prosecutors announced Thursday. Catholic priest Eugene Klein, 62, of Springfield, Mo., was indicted ...