A suspect has been arrested in connection with the theft of an electric guitar and mandolin taken from the band Heart before they performed at Hard Rock Atlantic City on Friday, May 30.
Atlantic City police charged Garfield Bennett, a 57-year-old resident of Pleasantville, New Jersey, with burglary and theft on Wednesday, May 4. He was arrested after he was spotted on camera attempting to sell the instruments in Atlantic City. Bennett matched the description of the man seen in surveillance video captured at Hard Rock's Etess Arena. .
Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson lost a custom baritone Telecaster Fender with a purple-sparkle finish and a multicolored design on the headstock, while band member Paul Moak was robbed of a 1966 Gibson EM-50 mandolin he’s performed with for more than 25 years.
Neither instrument has been recovered. Police say Bennett sold one to an unknown buyer and have not determined what became of the other. They’re asking whoever has the instruments to come forward and surrender them or face arrest and charges of receiving stolen property.
Anyone with information about the missing instruments should contact the Atlantic City Police Department at 609-347-5766 or submit an anonymous text to tip411 (847411).
The gear was stolen on May 30 after Heart setup for their next day’s show to launch the An Evening With Heart tour. The group has offered an unspecified reward for the instruments’ return, with no questions asked.
“These instruments are more than just tools of our trade — they’re extensions of our musical souls,” Nancy Wilson wrote on her Instagram shortly after the theft took place. “The baritone Tele was made uniquely for me, and Paul’s mandolin has been with him for decades.
“We’re heartbroken, and we’re asking for their safe return, no questions asked. Their value to us is immeasurable.”
Wilson learned of Bennett’s arrest following Heart's June 4 performance in Detroit. .
“It’s a really beautiful thing that you’re helping me reach out to people with their kindest hearts,” she told Fox 29 in Philadelphia. “And appeal to the kindness in people to help find and return these precious things that are so meaningful to me and the band. We’re just hoping against hope and sending the best prayers we can send.”
Heart have been soldiering on since the early 1970s, when the classic rock group scored chart hits like “Barracuda,” “Magic Man” and “Crazy On You.” Even before then, Nancy and her sister Ann, Heart’s lead singer, had cut their teeth performing in a folk quartet. Nancy recently revealed to Guitar Player how seeing the Beatles perform in the sisters' native Seattle in 1966, on the group's final tour, influenced their decision to form Heart.
Sadly, Heart’s gear joins the list of celebrity stringed instruments that have gone missing. Among the more famous are Paul McCartney’s first Höfner bass guitar, which was recovered in 2024 following a global search, and Eric Clapton’s “Beano” Gibson Les Paul, which he played on the Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton album. The whereabouts of Clapton's guitar remain unknown.
Most recently, on June 3, Gibson announced it was launching a search for the ES-345 semi-hollow electric actor Michael J. Fox performed with in a key scene from the film Back to the Future. The guitar has been missing since shortly after the movie was completed in 1985
Heart will perform An Evening with Heart throughout North America until June 28.
