A St. Petersburg musician has social media to thank for finding his stolen guitar.
The guitar disappeared on Tuesday night during open mic night at Ruby's Elixir Lounge downtown. Jeremy Thomas says he was on stage singing with another guitar player for about 30 minutes when he noticed his $700 Fender stratocaster, was gone.
"I fell in love with this guitar," Thomas said. "It gave me all kinds of creative ideas, and just you know, that was what the shock was, it was like ahhh. It's irreplaceable."
Thomas says he got home from Ruby's around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday and went straight to Facebook, posting about the theft of his guitar.
By morning, hundreds had shared the story.
Thomas says one friend that saw the post started calling Pawn Shops in case the thief tried cashing in the guitar.
"I was under the impression, 'who would take it to a pawn shop?', they are going to get busted you know, but I was wrong," Thomas said.
St. Petersburg Police say they received a phone call from Whipples Pawn Shop on Central Avenue Wednesday afternoon. An employee there reported someone trying to pawn what he believed was the stolen guitar. Officers busted the men as they tried getting away.
Joshua Owens, 30, was arrested and charged with grand theft. He is currently awaiting trial, out of jail on $2000 bond.
Now that Thomas has been reunited with his Fender, he says the experience may give him material for a new song.
"There's just a connection a musician has with certain pieces of equipment," said Thomas. "They are priceless."
Also priceless are the Facebook friends that got the word out, and helped him get the guitar back.