Stolen Pearl Jam Guitar Recovered By Police

Guitar was a gift for a cancer patient   13-Dec-11

A Fender Telecaster that was given to a cancer patient by Mike McCready of Pearl Jam was stolen from a Burlington apartment during Thanksgiving. 

The 1972 Tele has now been found by the police, but not in its original state. The guitar was signed by members of Pearl Jam, but the guitar has been damaged and the signatures have been removed.

The police issued a statement to say that they had arrested two men in connection with the case.

Jeffrey Leduc, 25, and Timothy Crews, 51, were jailed on charges of possession of stolen property.

Ben Hardy is the current owner of the guitar, and has been keeping it since his brother passed away. Pearl Jam members had originally signed the guitar and given it Hardy's brother, Josh Hardy, who was suffering from a brain tumour.

The donation was organised by the Make-A-Wish Foundation in 1992. Josh Hardy died three months after the visit to Seattle, which saw him receive the guitar from McCready.

The guitar's current owner, Ben Hardy, spoke about the ordeal via his Facebook page:

"Received a phone call from Burlington Police," he commented. "They have found my stolen items, including the Telecaster!"

The police were following leads generated by tip-offs from the public, which were the result of media coverage of the theft.

Ben also commented in the role of the social media site in recovering the guitar:

"It's an amazing ending to quite the ordeal. There is no question that all the positivity and hope generated through this network played a big role in the guitar's return."

Rich Beech
@sonicamped