Cody Gleason thought he came across a solid deal. He wanted to trade his Gibson Les Paul guitar in exchange for gold bullion.
A man came across his ad online and wanted to make the transaction happen. Gleason said the man assured him that the gold was real — he even used a magnet to prove it.
The next day, he took it to a local gold and silver shop and learned the trade was a scheme and the gold was fake.
"If I can do something to help other people not be susceptible to this kind of scam, that's what I'm going to do," he said.
His case was eventually picked up by the Dallas County District Attorney's Office, and about a month later, Gabriel Carter was arrested on a felony theft charge.
Court documents refer to Carter's actions as a scheme by exercising control over the guitar "…namely by deception."
Even though charges had been filed, Gleason never thought he’d see his guitar again. But, he recently got a call from the DA's office, which said they had something of his that he’d want to see.
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And just like that, he got his guitar back.
The Dallas County DA’s office explained that because the case is still pending, they cannot provide a comment at this time.
We also reached out to Carter’s attorney, and we haven’t heard back.
Gleason told us when he was picking up his guitar, another man was there to pick up his guitar, too.
That man said he saw our first story, went to the police, and he’s happy to have his property back.
