Found an old listing to my stolen ‘78 Les Paul Custom

I don`t know how the law works in the US, but selling and buying stolen stuff has serious legal implications in my country, even if you claim you did not know, that it was stolen before. So, how far down that road this applies and through how many hands the guitar went and how many years past since it was stolen is written on another page. But usually the item has to be returned to the original owner, if he can prove, that it was his and it was stolen (police report).
 
Man thats heartbreaking. I had a semi similar situation happen to me. Guitar got stolen, they caught the guy red handed a month later, went to trial he went to prison. My guitar was supposedly in evidence locker for court. Damn Houston PD never produced my 2006 Fender Deluxe strat. Fought for over a year to no avail. I hope you can get you guitar back man!
 
Wow just got my police report back (after paying a 26.50 "convenience" fee), and the responsible detective and officers managed to add NONE of the info regarding my stolen items into the original police report. I gave them pics, serial numbers, unique identifiers for everything. They literally just pencil whipped it and went back to fucking off. Just another one of many reasons why I don't live in that third world shithole of a city anymore. Well, I guess that puts an end to that effort. Thanks everyone for your input and advice anyway.
 
Soundstorm said:
Wow just got my police report back (after paying a 26.50 "convenience" fee), and the responsible detective and officers managed to add NONE of the info regarding my stolen items into the original police report. I gave them pics, serial numbers, unique identifiers for everything. They literally just pencil whipped it and went back to fucking off. Just another one of many reasons why I don't live in that third world shithole of a city anymore. Well, I guess that puts an end to that effort. Thanks everyone for your input and advice anyway.
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:doh:
Fuck that! There are some people out there that just have no clue, what loosing trust in public institutions does to people and how it`s degrading society from within.
 
I had a Gibson Brazillian J200 stolen the fed ex guy said he delivered to my bud absolute bullcrap this was 2006 I believe it was a 1994 bought from a guy in Utah
 
Sorry to hear this and sorry NOLA police didn't give two shits. I thought at one point in time there was a Serial Number checker website people could list and check on guitars? How do music stores normally check to see if a used item is stolen or not? How was it stolen if you don't mind me asking? Home break-in? Did they take other stuff in addition to your guitar gear? I ask because maybe those 'trails' would narrow things down. Have you tried doing image searches of that guitar and amp/pedals? Just throwin' stuff out there. Sorry if that was no help.

Good luck finding your stuff.
 
Cless357 said:
Soundstorm, you can indeed post on Guitariste.com, which is the biggest guitar forum here in France. If you have difficulties with French language, let me know, maybe I could help.
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Thanks, I appreciate that! I've looked at it and am having difficulty starting an account there, even though I've authorized it several times now. But the plan is to post something there. Google Translate helps me navigate the site but I may get your help when it comes to proofreading the ad!
 
311splawndude said:
Sorry to hear this and sorry NOLA police didn't give two shits. I thought at one point in time there was a Serial Number checker website people could list and check on guitars? How do music stores normally check to see if a used item is stolen or not? How was it stolen if you don't mind me asking? Home break-in? Did they take other stuff in addition to your guitar gear? I ask because maybe those 'trails' would narrow things down. Have you tried doing image searches of that guitar and amp/pedals? Just throwin' stuff out there. Sorry if that was no help.

Good luck finding your stuff.
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So the way this all went down was back in 2017 I'd decided I was going to move up to Maine from New Orleans. I have friends there so I was able to start work immediately and stay at a friend's house. I'd temporarily moved all of my possessions out of my house when my lease ended into a storage unit in New Orleans. It was an 8 story building with hundreds of units that are all on the interior, with gate code access to enter the parking lot. There are also band rehearsal rooms there where my band at the time held our rehearsals, so it was convenient. The plan was to move to Maine, start work, find a house, then go back to NOLA and grab all my things and truck them up. I left the LPC there because it felt a lot safer than traveling across the country with it (wrong move). About a week after I left town I got a call from the management that there'd been a series of robberies overnight. 17 units hit in total, with mine being one of the lucky ones. They couldn't have gotten me at a worse time, everything I had of value was in this large storage room. So they managed to get just about all of it. Guitar, early Marshall JMP, guns, electronics, lots more random equipment and items I lost track of. It was 3 of them working together. They actually managed to catch one of them, guy had a storage unit at the same building and that's how they got in. That's also how he got caught. They broke open his storage unit and took pictures but none of my stuff was in there. They also seized a van of his and searched his home, but none of my stuff was found on either account.
 
Sorry to hear what you are going through. I had a good friend and great guitar player who had the exact same guitar, color and all. He was a Strat guy through and through since the early 70's, but he fell in love. Nobody believed that he gave up the Strat, but that guitar did it. He lost it in a fire (so, yeah it was not yours). I think a lawyer could be of help, but it may not make $$ sense. Good luck.
 
For felony theft under $25K in Louisiana it looks like the statute of limitations is 4 years.

In terms of the intermediaries, pawn shops can get into some shit for selling stolen goods. Private citizens though rarely get prosecuted for selling items they didn't know were stolen. And a company that's acting as a broker or consignee would have no culpability unless you can demonstrate that they knew the item was stolen prior to the sale.

Although none of the brokers can give you the buyer's info, there isn't any reason they couldn't give him yours. At this point, the best chance of getting it back is going to be if they're willing to give it up.
 
MusicIsLife said:
And a company that's acting as a broker or consignee would have no culpability unless you can demonstrate that they knew the item was stolen prior to the sale.

Although none of the brokers can give you the buyer's info, there isn't any reason they couldn't give him yours. At this point, the best chance of getting it back is going to be if they're willing to give it up.
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Not sure this is true. I believe pawnshops have an obligation to determine items aren’t stolen for example. And I see no reason why a seller couldn’t be compelled to give up a buyers identity, especially in a case like this.
 
Hopefully the Frenchman gets back to you.

Nothing worse than a thief, especially a guitar thief. There is a special place in the pits of hell for guitar thieves.

If it was up to me, a guitar thief would be charged with kidnapping. I see no difference between taking someone’s prized sentimental guitar and stealing a human baby. Penalty should be the same.

The pain runs deep, I feel your pain my friend. I hope you get your guitar back.
 
Soundstorm said:
So the way this all went down was back in 2017 I'd decided I was going to move up to Maine from New Orleans. I have friends there so I was able to start work immediately and stay at a friend's house. I'd temporarily moved all of my possessions out of my house when my lease ended into a storage unit in New Orleans. It was an 8 story building with hundreds of units that are all on the interior, with gate code access to enter the parking lot. There are also band rehearsal rooms there where my band at the time held our rehearsals, so it was convenient. The plan was to move to Maine, start work, find a house, then go back to NOLA and grab all my things and truck them up. I left the LPC there because it felt a lot safer than traveling across the country with it (wrong move). About a week after I left town I got a call from the management that there'd been a series of robberies overnight. 17 units hit in total, with mine being one of the lucky ones. They couldn't have gotten me at a worse time, everything I had of value was in this large storage room. So they managed to get just about all of it. Guitar, early Marshall JMP, guns, electronics, lots more random equipment and items I lost track of. It was 3 of them working together. They actually managed to catch one of them, guy had a storage unit at the same building and that's how they got in. That's also how he got caught. They broke open his storage unit and took pictures but none of my stuff was in there. They also seized a van of his and searched his home, but none of my stuff was found on either account.
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Gotcha. Hope it wasn't an inside job. How do they break into that many? Brute force? Are there no camera's? Is there no protection/insurance from storage owner? I'm sure you have thought of this but like I was saying, if you can somehow track down a Gun serial# (for example) it may help you trace the history. Same for the other 16 storage customers. Good luck man. Sucks like I said. Hope you get it back.
 
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