[CPProt.net] Police Recover Stolen Ray Charles Tapes in L.A.

[MSN and CPProt list (Ton Cremers)]

Police Recover Stolen Ray Charles Tapes in L.A.

Thu Mar 3, 8:18 PM ET 

By Steve Gorman 

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Police said on Thursday they had recovered boxes of
original recordings of soul music legend Ray Charles from the home of an
audio engineer accused of taking advantage of the singer's blindness to
steal the tapes in the final months of his life. 

Terry Howard, 48, who shared in three Grammy Awards last month for his work
on Charles' final album, "Genius Loves Company," was arrested Feb. 17 during
a search of his home. He was formally charged on Tuesday with grand theft by
embezzlement and receiving stolen property, authorities said. 

As noted in the recent film biography "Ray," Charles, who died on June 10,
2004, at age 73, was one of the few recording stars who owned the original
master tapes of his own music. 

Howard has since pleaded innocent, and he was released from jail on Thursday
after his bail was reduced to $100,000 from $1 million, according to his
lawyer, Steve Cron. 

Cron described Howard as "a loyal friend and associate of Ray Charles" who
was completely trusted by the singer and "did nothing to betray that trust,"
adding all the tapes seized from his apartment had been in his possession
legitimately. 

"He did not have original master recordings. He had copies, and he had every
right to have them," Cron told Reuters. "Sound engineers routinely take home
material and work in their home studios, and that's what Terry did." 

Cron suggested Howard was the victim of false accusations by individuals
from the singer's estate, Ray Charles Enterprises, who were jealous of
Howard's relationship with Charles, "which was long-standing and very
close." 

Police said a collection of Charles' master tapes were reported stolen from
the singer's famed RPM studio in Los Angles, and detectives searched
Howard's home in suburban Burbank on the basis of a tip Ray Charles
Enterprises received from an associate of the engineer. 

Inside, they found shelves filled with boxes containing old reel-to-reel
tapes, some labeled as the property of Ray Charles Entertainment or RPM
International, said police Lt. Donald Hooper. Many of the cartons appeared
to have been water-damaged, moldy or caked with dirt, he added. 

Among the items reported stolen, Hooper said, was a master recording of
Charles' classic hit single "Georgia On My Mind." 

"That was one of the things we went there to find, but I don't know if we
found it," he told Reuters, explaining that many of the tapes were unmarked.


Police believe Howard took some material unbeknownst to Charles on occasions
when the two worked together alone at RPM, Hooper said. Court documents say
the thefts occurred between Feb. 18, 2004 and Feb. 17, 2005. 

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