Multiple suspects arrested; local DJ reunited with some of his stolen equipment
After nearly a month of hoping that justice would be served after having his DJ-ing equipment stolen, a local man has been reunited with some of his gear and five people were taken into custody for the crime.
According to Keoni Kaono, a disc jockey who performs as DJ NONI, deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Carson Statin were able to serve several search warrants related to the incident, arresting five people and adding charges to one person who was already in custody for another crime.
The original story is below.
A local DJ is desperately looking for the return of his stolen equipment after it was stolen from him more than two weeks ago. Not only did the thieves take his livelihood, they also stole a lifetime's worth of memories.
Keoni Kaono, 51, is usually the life of the party, entertaining countless people over his last 30 years worth of disc jockeying. Now, he feels like he has nowhere to turn after his custom DJ-ing equipment was stolen from his storage unit.
"I just feel so violated, you know?"
He learned that he had been targeted two weekends ago when he went to his storage facility in Carson and found that one of the locks securing his gear was gone.
"When I opened up my unit door, everything was gone," he said.
Kaono, who performs as DJ NONI, acquired security footage of the theft on Nov. 16, which shows three cars following a credentialed truck driver into the locked storage facility. Two men and one woman are later seen wheeling away his custom DJ-ing equipment, which he estimates is worth up to $50k.
"I had like 15 microphones, two turn tables, two projectors," he said. "They took my photobooth, all my speakers. They knew what they were taking."
While he knows that items can be replaced, he's more upset at the years worth of memories that were attached to them.
Kaono began Dj-ing while he was in the United States Air Force more than three decades ago, a passion he hasn't stopped since.
"I was deployed to Saudi Arabia for six months, so all that money that I made — which wasn't a lot — I used that money to use those turntables," he said. "Those are the very first things I bought for myself as a DJ."
A part of what makes the job so fun is the community that comes with it, something that has been exemplified to the fullest in recent days.
Fellow DJs have started reaching out to Kaono in support, sending him unused equipment to use while he continues to search for his personal gear.
"It's been an absolutely amazing response by everybody, which gives me hope." Kaono said.
He said that despite everything, he doesn't plan on giving up DJ-ing anytime soon.
"I'm not going to stop," he said. "Of course it's been tough, but this is what I love to do. I'm not going to let my clients down, that's for sure."
Anyone with information on the stolen DJ equipment is asked to contact Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
