Florida Man Named Mystery Uses Stolen Credit Card to Buy 11 Gibson Les Pauls, 7 Speaker Cabs and More

We write a lot about big bands and celebrities here at MetalSucks, and how their rock star lifestyles allow them to do whatever they want. But what about the little guy down on the street — what’s he doing? And if he’s in Florida, what utterly insane shit is he up to now? Well, according to a news report out of Volusia County, Florida, your everyday Florida rock fan is out there buying shitloads of gear using a stolen credit card.

According to Music Radar, back in 2019 a 49-year-old Florida man who goes by the name of Mystery Shiloh Demarest decided to go on a gear-buying spree with the credit card of the 78-year-old woman he lives with, who gives it to him to do shopping and run errands while she tends to her sick husband. But this time around, Mystery decided to spend $17,000 to buy the following list of items.

• 11 Gibson Les Paul guitars
• 2 Marshall JCM900 amplifier heads
• 7 guitar speaker cabinets, Marshall and Mesa Boogie
• A drum kit
• Various stands
• A plane ticket

GOTTA love the plane ticket! I mean, the gear is one thing — maybe he’s buying all of this stuff for the kids down at the orphanage, who knows? — but throw the plane ticket in there and you officially have either a hardened criminal or a dude who’s on the phone with the bandmates who just touched down in Europe, insisting that the tour is still on.

Anyway, according to the Volusia Country Sheriff’s Office, via Ultimate Guitar:

“Demarest explained his girlfriend must be responsible, and he’d return everything for a refund. The victim believed Demarest, but then lost contact with him.” However, not long after that, other expenses appeared on the card, including Extra Space Storage in DeLand, a plane ticket, and a hotel room reservation. They also add that “when the victim checked on the storage unit, she discovered the rent was past due and the unit had gone up for auction online.”

Demarest is still at large, so if you see the dude in the header bumming around your local Guitar Center, drop a dime.