Dozens of pianos missing from repair shop found in storage units

Customers of an embattled piano repair shop call West Allis police after learning dozens of pianos were discovered in storage units. Jenna Sachs with how the workshop's owner is explaining his delays. It's a Contact Six report. This is where your piano rolls go on. In Len Wessner's house in Oshkosh. And this comes out and there are your pedals. Is a 1920s player piano. Len bought the piano 20 years ago from Arnold Newhouse. Newhouse ran a respected piano business in West Allis for decades, until his death in 2016. He was great. Yeah, he knew all about these things. Today, Len's piano is cherished by his family. It was this personal history that led Len to Newhouse Piano for a second time in 2019, and to Arnold's son, Tom Newhouse. Len entrusted Tom Newhouse to refinish and restring a different player piano that belonged to Len's parents after his mother's death. This was the last time Len played it. We were in our family for a very long time. Len's family paid a $1,000 deposit, but says five years ago, the workshop stopped responding to all communication. I don't know if Tom can do it anymore or what. A couple of months ago, Len called West Allis police. I actually reached out after I saw the Channel 6 news report. Contact 6 has reported on the workshop's unhappy customers since 2017. State of Wisconsin versus Thomas Newhouse. Last year, Newhouse was charged with felony theft. I'll admit I'm trying to be understanding of the process. Cassie Kaminsky is the victim in that case. she sent her grandparents piano to Newhouse for repairs and refinishing in 2023 and didn't get it back. I'm frustrated and angry. I lost a huge piece of my childhood. Do you know roughly how many pianos you have at your store? In February, a West Dallas police detective asked Newhouse about Cassie's piano following his arrest on a bench warrant. Somehow I lost the cast. frame. Okay. I don't know what happened to it, and those are not interchangeable. Newhouse said the missing frame for Cassie's piano weighs 400 pounds. It's almost the point I think it was stolen. Oh, how would it have been stolen? Well, that's it, yes. But where would it go? The building's only so big. After hearing that he may have lost that piece, I've kind of lost all hope. Around the same time as this interview with Newhouse, police discovered pianos inside three storage units connected to him after their rent went unpaid. I'm hoping, as there's always hope. Of the 28 pianos in the storage lockers, police have connected three with their owners and returned two. Len's piano was not among them. To this day, I think it's in his building. After our report on the storage units, eight customers called police looking for their pianos. None were in the lockers. West Dallas police considered a search warrant at the shop, but after consultation with the district attorney's office, many of the complaints did not rise to the level of chargeable criminal offenses. Newhouse told police his building is cluttered. He lost employees during the pandemic and business slowed. I'm not making excuses, but I do get so depressed I can't get out of bed sometimes. My letters all said, hey, it's fine. Let me just get the piano back. You know, I'll move it myself. Len's parents' piano was supposed to go to his daughter's home. So another generation could cherish the music and memories. It's really the emotional side of it that we struggle with more than anything else. We'd like to have it back. West Allis police say that none of the remaining pianos in the storage lockers were connected to a crime and no new charges are expected. The DA's office told us Newhouse is working to return pianos to customers. I'm Jenna Sachs, Contact Six.