Metropoulos Forum

So a friend of mine had their brand new Gibson guitar stolen from his shop on Saturday.

He thinks he knows who stole it.

Question is:

How do you confirm something like that? Direct confrontation probably won't work.

He's posted flyers all around town and sent bulletins out through all the social networking sites.


the only thing I can think of is staking out the guy or getting in with someone he knows well and wouldn't suspect.


This guitar is gorgeous too.....


any advice?

Could call the cops but good luck with that. Hard to prove. If it was me I'd have to get old school. Fear works wonders. You say direct confrontaion won't work. Why not? If he's sure who took it you can give him a way out without consequences hoping he will fess up and return it. I don't like that option because it deserves an ass whippin' but that's just me. Any mutual friends?

if they were brand new and stolen from a shop, the dealer that sold them to the shop has the serial numbers, your friend as well.
he just has to go to teh police , give the serial numbers and type of guitars, the name of the guy that he thinks stole them as well as his address if he has it.

Well...I'm all for scumbags getting their asses kicked, but it's not worth getting the law involved, at lest in that way. Keep in mind, when you directly confront him...and I've done this with my fiance's ex who was threatening her; things seem to have a way of going south realy fast and if you take the fight to him, it's all about what can be proved in a court of law.
He is most likely not going to fess up, you can't prove it, and now he's just going to be extra cautious about showing it around. I think your best bet would be to try to bait him with a bogus buyer. You could put bogus "want ads"...not too specific to tip him off, but for instance for a L.P. and offer a certain price range in your local paper and/or Craigslist. Some good old surveilance would work too, and watch craigslist and ebay too...hope your buddy gets his git back; best O luck.


Yeah, serial #s; I'd inform the cops and all of the local pawn shops and guitar shops.

Lots of missing info here too. You say it was stolen from your friend's shop. What kind of shop? it don't sound like a guitar shop but more like his shop out back or something. If his shop is a business then the police may be more help. If it's his shop out in the garage and you don't have proof then they're not going to send CSI or anything. They may knock on his door and ask him but what do you think he'll say? The cops' hands are tied till it does end up at a pawn shop or something which may be never. having concrete proof and just knowing are two different things. On the confrontation side I guess it would depend on the taker and the take-ee. It could go south but how sure are you and how comfortable are you with things getting ugly? Crooks are usually not cop callers so I wouldn't worry about being taken to court for beating his ass. If he did it that is.

He's filed a police report already and put a claim in for insurance purposes but he still wants it back.

His shop isn't a guitar store. It's a sound & lighting company. Often times, people will pick up a rental at the back door of the shop. 99% of the time, someone is working back there. This guy happened to be on his way out and noticed a guitar case and noone around, so he decides to snag it.

My friend has the guitar documented extremely well. His father is a professional photographer and had taken detailed pics of the guitar (including the serial number).

He's covered money wise (I think). From what I can tell, the insurance will cover the loss.

Direct confrontation didn't work too well for OJ.....

If you'e gonna confront the guy you better be ready to follow through with the threat and also be ready to defend yourself in court if it's gets ugly.

It's not like the old days we're you can give the guy a good back alley beating and he accpets it because he knows he's wrong.

Sucks, man.

Yeah see, since it's at a business, it's covered by insurance and the guitar was well documented, I would not use confrontation either. To me it sounded more like "The guy down the street broke into my shop out back and took my shit" kinda thing. Sorry for the bad advise. I misunderstood the situation. I hope it all works out for him.

NY Chief wrote:
It's not like the old days we're you can give the guy a good back alley beating and he accpets it because he knows he's wrong.

I agree with you on that Chief. These are different times. It's funny how younger generations are quick to use weapons instead of fists and also quick to call the cops to save their ass, even if they're wrong.

You take something from my business I'll deal with it legally. You mess with my family or my home and I'm breakin' it off in ya! That's just me though. Growing up in a family of boxers and fighters probably has a lot to do with that.

O.K., I have been a cop for 11 years and have been a Detective for the last 4 years. The secret is........ the more you call the detective in charge of the case and ask for a status, the more gets done on your case. Hopefully you had some pretty compelling probable cause on this scumbag. At the very least the detective in charge should talk tho the scumbag. I can usually tell if a person is lying by watching how he answers the questions. Depending on how valuable the guitar is a polygraph might be the ticket! after all innocent people don't lie and the true never changes!!!!!!!!!!!

It was an ebony colored Gibson CS 356.

He only suspects he stole it becuase supposedly he worked at another music store in town and was pocketing purchases that people made at the store!

He has since been fired...

It never hurts to offer a reward for information also. There is no honor among thieves!!!!!!!!!! only money!!!!!

I hope you get some justice,its tough though, sorry for the loss, this year a guy ran out of my store with a Strat, and a bass, had a guy in a car waiting and sped off, we were caught off guard on a weekend with just one person at the store, Cops have done nothing, I put out a reward for the guy/s identity, took about 1 week and found out who the kid is that did the grab and run,found out he did the same thing at another store months before,the police went to his house he is a minor and his dad says he is not around and does not live with the family, the cops have done nothing at all so sometimes you cant win. but I have this kids picture one day I will see him, talk to all and anyone who might know the guy who you think stole the guitar you never know what will come to play.

Maybe get a third party to buddy up to this guy and talk guitars and perhaps get him to show his "nice new lespaul".Make sure the thrid party knows serial numbers and/or identifiable markings,then report his findings to the cops.
Or.............wait till a nasty rain storm and bust every window out of his house...................nevermind

I'm sure the cops will get involved if you have probable cause, meaning you saw the guitar, the guy left the store, then the guitar was gone. That should be enough probable cause.

Ok...Here's the key to confronting this person face to face 1) you beat him up so bad that he's too affraid to go to the cops 2) Tell him to bring the guitar back within 1 hr or you will cut his thumb off.
Now, if your are not willing to take it that far then just make a Police report. I can tell you first hand it is very effective method. At least that's how we do it in NY.