A music teacher pulled over by police with a tuba in her backseat admitted to stealing more than 50 instruments from her school district and selling them to buy heroin.

Danielle Conner-Willowglade, 30, who teaches at elementary, middle, and high schools in Nunda, N.Y., started stealing and pawning the instruments last June. Police have been investigating her since October "in connection with drug use."

She told the trooper who spotted a tuba—not in a case—in her car that she was taking the instrument to Rochester for work. After police contacted the school district, her story didn't hold up.

Conner-Willowglade's boyfriend, 32-year-old Nicholas Bump, allegedly helped her steal the music equipment and sell it. Police found 12 of the instruments and the teacher's school-issued computer at local pawn shops, State Police Investigator Chris Burns told the Democrat & Chronicle.

Conner-Willowglade and Bump (decent name for a law firm!) are being charged with possession of stolen property and possession of a controlled substance. Conner-Willowglade also faces grand larceny charges.

[Photo Credit: New York State Police]