Time to face the music.

The man suspected of swiping a young woman’s $23,000 violin was arrested Thursday. Scott Sylvester, 27, dropped off the instrument to a priest at St. Mary’s Cathedral in the morning, police said.

God won’t be Sylvester’s only judge — he was in police custody around 8 p.m.

“We hope to reunite the violin with the owner soon,” police said.

Sylvester allegedly stole the young woman’s instrument after sneaking into the San Francisco Conservatory of Music last week.

The 26-year-old victim had left her instrument in a practice room on the fifth floor to go check her email in the computer lab.

On his way up in the elevator, the man made a “weird, kind of goofy statement” to two other women, one of whom was complaining about her missing phone, according to Police Inspector Brian Danker.

“He says, ‘You guys are pretty white-bread here, so no one’s going to take your stuff,’” Danker said.

maldax@sfexaminer.com