Culver City Police announced at a press conference at 3 p.m. Tuesday that they had recovered
Culver City Police Chief Don Pederson told journalists assembled in the CCPD briefing room that CCPD detectives received information that one of the guitars was sold at a pawn shop in Hollywood and officers recovered one guitar from the shop. They were then able to track down 51-year-old Daryl Washington, a Los Angeles resident who worked as a private security guard at Culver Studios.
Washington was booked for Grand Theft, a violation of Penal Code Section 487a on Monday. Detectives will present the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's for filing consideration.
Pederson said Tom Petty and his friends helped immensely in using social media to put out the information that the guitars had been stolen.
"It's a fairly small community that have knowledge of this value and type," Pederson said. The pawn shop in question purchased the Gibson SG for $250."
Culver Studios CEO James C. Cella issued the following statement after the guitars were recovered:
We're relieved and extremely pleased that all of Tom Petty's stolen guitars have been recovered and that a suspect has been arrested. Our security department cooperated fully with the Culver City Police in the effort to solve this crime. Even though the allged culprit was not an employee of The Culver Studios but worked for an independent contractor, we feel a real sense of responsibility for everything that happens on our lot and we have conveyed our profound apologies to Mr. Petty for the distress the incident has caused him.
Click on the links to the right of this article for a video of the press conference and a photo of Daryl Washington.
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