On August 21, 2014, the victim left his residence heading out-of-town on business.  He returned on August 24, 2014, and found that his residence had been burglarized.  Taken in the offense were three antique Gibson guitars valued at over $8,000.  Being security concious, the victim had recorded the serial numbers for the guitars.  Dallas Police Detective Travis McAnally, #9007, was assigned the investigation and was able to track the serial numbers to an Oak Cliff pawn shop.

Detective McAnally went to the pawn shop and placed a hold on the guitars.  He and his partner, Detective Benustiano Avilla, #7852, reviewed the pawn shop’s video of the sale and personally knew one of the suspects from previous offenses.  Using this information and the identification card given by the accomplice during the sale of the guitars, Detective Avilla secured a warrant for the suspect and the accomplice, who was later determined to be the suspect’s girlfriend.  Both suspects were picked up by Southwest Deployment officers.  Detective Avilla interviewed the suspect and he admitted to knowing that the guitars were stolen and that his girlfriend had pawned them for him. 

A Felony Theft offense was filed on the suspect and he was placed into the Lew Sterrett Jail.  Thanks to hard investigative work, instinct and personal recognition skills, investigators were able to solve this mystery and recover the owner’s stolen guitars.  This offense is documented on case number 204337-2014