Alleged Guitar Thief Caught After Being Branded One of ‘Nashville’s Most Wanted’

A Nashville‘s “Most Wanted” fugitive has been arrested after reportedly stealing a rare guitar as part of a series of storage unit thefts. According to the Metro Nashville Police Department, Honold Scott Bilbrey, 40, was wanted on several outstanding warrants, including two counts of nonresidential burglary, two counts of burglary, four counts of theft of property, vandalism and burglary of a motor vehicle, reported WKRN.

Additionally, a long list of prior burglary offenses from neighboring jurisdictions led to Bilbrey’s inclusion on the police department’s “Top 10 Most Wanted” list multiple times before his arrest on Wednesday, Nov. 8. The series of alleged crimes in and around Nashville began in August. As described in his arrest affidavit, Bilbrey went into a Guitar Center on Thompson Lane between Aug. 13 and Aug. 21 and exchanged several stolen items for cash.

It is estimated that Bilbrey has received a total of $777 in cash from the sale of each of the items. Authorities have reported that Bilbrey readily provided his Tennessee driver’s license when exchanging any item for cash. In a few days, between Aug. 22 and Aug. 24, a man appeared at the same Guitar Center and encountered Bilbrey with an unusual guitar that looked exactly like his.

Upon questioning Bilbrey about where the guitar came from, the man said he had received it “after a family member died,” according to the affidavit. After leaving the store, the man found out that the lock on his storage unit had been replaced by a lock that did not belong to him.

After gaining entry into the storage unit, he discovered that several of his guitars and musical instruments had been stolen. Bilbrey, the suspect, was later found to have sold the man’s stolen instruments at several pawn shops in Nashville, according to investigators. Bilbrey, however, was reported to have continued his alleged crimes on Sept. 10, when he followed a driver into a secured parking lot at Mini Storage Depot off Antioch Pike around 6:55 p.m.

Officials said Bilbrey entered the lot, cut the lock on a storage unit, took multiple items totaling around $1,300, then entered the victim’s truck with a key he found in the storage unit and stole a drill worth $200.

When Bilbrey left the area, police reported he attempted to buy $829 worth of items with the victim’s debit card at a Walmart on Nolensville Pike, but the purchase was declined. After leaving the store, Bilbrey returned to sell the person’s iPhone at an ecoATM a few minutes later.

With the help of security footage from the Mini Storage Depot, Walmart, and ecoATM, as well as the Tennessee driver’s license Bilbrey provided to the ecoATM, police were able to identify him as a suspect.

As of Thursday, Nov. 9, Bilbrey remained in jail with a $21,000 bond after his arrest on Wednesday, Nov. 8. He was previously charged with burglary offenses in Franklin, Ashland City, and Knox County.