Coworker Borrowed His $900 Guitar and Claimed It Was Stolen — Then He Asked for the Police Report or the Cash

A Maryland musician says he tried to do a coworker a favor by lending him a guitar for a gig.

The arrangement seemed simple enough. The coworker needed it for a performance. The poster owned the guitar. He lent it out, expecting it would come back after the gig in the same condition it left.

Then he asked for it back.

The coworker said it had been stolen from his house.

The poster explained in a Reddit post that the guitar was worth about $900. He had ownership papers, and he had witnesses who could confirm he loaned the guitar to the coworker rather than selling it or giving it away.

That mattered because this was not a vague “he said, he said” situation with no trail. The poster could prove the guitar was his. He could also prove the coworker had only borrowed it.

The part he did not believe was the theft story.

He asked the coworker whether he had called police. The coworker said he had. So the poster asked for the case number.

That is where the whole thing started feeling even shakier.

The poster said he had friends in the police department and planned to verify the report once the coworker gave him the number. If the guitar had genuinely been stolen, he seemed willing to accept that reality and figure out what came next.

But if there was no report, no case number, and no real documentation, then the story looked a lot more like the coworker had sold the guitar or lost it and was trying to get out of paying.

That is a miserable position to be in with someone from work.

A coworker is not always a close friend, but they are someone you still have to see. You share a workplace, a manager, daily interactions, and maybe mutual coworkers. Accusing them of stealing or selling your guitar can turn the whole job awkward fast.

But the poster had a valuable instrument missing, and the explanation was not holding together.

He gave the coworker clear options: produce the police report and insurance information, return the guitar in the exact condition it was loaned, or pay cash equal to the guitar’s value. If none of those happened, he would report the guitar stolen.

According to the poster, the coworker went pale and said he understood.

That reaction did not exactly inspire confidence.

A day later, the coworker said he would not be able to pay until Thursday. Around the same time, another coworker who had seen the Reddit post looked him up and found he owed thousands in credit card debt. The poster began to suspect the guitar had been sold for far less than it was worth.

That possibility made him even angrier. A $900 guitar, especially a seven-string with a more niche use, is not something you casually replace. The poster said it was his cheapest guitar, but that did not mean it was disposable. Seven-string guitars are not always easy to find, and musicians often care about the exact gear they choose.

Still, he was willing to let the coworker make it right.

The workplace became aware of the situation. His manager knew. Coworkers knew. The poster said the coworker was married with kids and could lose his job if the whole thing went to court. He did not want to destroy the man’s life if the guitar or money came back.

But he also made it clear he was not going to let the story vanish.

The final update came with a check.

The coworker showed up and paid him for the guitar. He tried to offer another explanation, saying he found out who stole it, but the poster did not care anymore. At that point, he had what he needed: compensation.

He said that assuming the check cleared, the saga was over as far as he was concerned.

That did not mean the coworker was fully in the clear at work. The poster said the whole workplace basically knew what happened, and he suspected there would be repercussions. But those would not come from him directly. If HR, management, or anyone else asked what happened, he said he would not lie on the coworker’s behalf.

That line was probably the cleanest boundary in the whole situation.

The coworker paid him for the guitar.

He did not buy the poster’s silence.

Commenters mostly told him he had every right to demand either the guitar, the police report, or compensation. Many said the coworker’s “it was stolen” explanation was not enough on its own.

Several people suggested small claims court if the coworker refused to pay, especially since the poster had ownership papers and witnesses confirming the guitar was only loaned.

A lot of commenters suspected the guitar had been pawned or sold. They told him to check local pawn shops and document every conversation with the coworker.

Some commenters had a more technical legal discussion about whether someone who borrows property is automatically liable if it is stolen while in their possession. Others said the practical reality was still simple: the coworker needed to prove the theft or make the owner whole.

The strongest advice was to get everything in writing, keep the manager aware, and avoid accepting vague excuses. A borrowed guitar does not become someone else’s problem just because the borrower tells a shaky story.