Did you know? Man jailed for stealing signed guitars worth over $27,000

An Australian man has been charged with stealing signed guitars of music enthusiast Mery French. Austen Sheffield, 50, stole 14 of the 81-year-old French’s guitars in August.

The guitars, which were autographed by music legends such as The Eagles, Chubby Checker, John Mellencamp and Jimmy Barnes, were stolen from French’s house in Brisbane, reported IANS. Detectives recovered the instruments on September 15, but Sheffield had already erased five signatures from the guitars including those of Checker and Mellencamp.

Brisbane Times was told that nine of the guitars were found buried under a house, two were stuffed into a ceiling cavity and three more were found at separate addresses. French had bought the guitars from a friend who is well-connected in the music industry. He hopes his mate will help him track down the musicians to have his instruments re-signed.

The music enthusiast told reporters on Monday that he would spend the next few days cleaning the guitars and finding a more protected venue to store them. The guitars are valued at an estimated $27,000.

Sheffield appeared in Wynnum magistrate’s court in Brisbane on Tuesday, charged with entering a premises to commit an indictable offence and an unrelated charge of possessing tainted property. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years in prison.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2014.

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