Telecaster Thieves Derailed By Cops

[TDPRI]

Telecaster Thieves Derailed By Cops (from the Wichita Falls Times Record News)
By Jessica Langdon/Times Record News
June 8, 2007

When an early morning downpour meant stopping overnight at a Wichita Falls motel for members of the Texas music band The Derailers, they had no idea someone was about to make a move that threatened to derail a big part of their past.

The five-member Austin-based band was on its way through Texas to Santa Fe, N.M., and then on to Colorado early June 1 when the bad weather and an unprecedented bout of bad luck struck.

Sometime after band member Brian Hofeldt settled in for the stormy early morning at the La Quinta on Central Freeway, someone smashed a window of the parked van and took off with several things, including Hofeldt's 1968 Fender Telecaster guitar, with a silver flake finish that has starred on album covers and other band materials over the past 15 years.

The guitar was more than an instrument. It was a "real part of the look and sound of our group," Hofeldt said. "I didn't think thieves would be out in a storm like that."

That Friday dawned with drier skies, but the discovery of the crime and the missing guitar left the day overcast for the band. It was the first time their van had been broken into, but it didn't take long for a silver lining to appear.

"The fine folks at the Wichita Falls Police Department got the case wrapped up," Hofeldt said, impressed with how quickly his prized possession turned up.

The report came into the police department about the burglary in the parking lot in the 1100 block of Central Freeway at 9:30 a.m. that Friday, June 1, said Officer Harold McClure, a public information officer for the police department. Hofeldt reported the guitar missing, plus a few other belongings. The van was also damaged.

Detectives Brian Bohn and Brad Love took on the case, and, along with others, didn't waste any time, Hofeldt said.

"I talked to them Tuesday morning," he said. "And within four hours he called me up and had my guitar back."

The musical community was also immediately in tune with the case of the missing guitar, and musicians and music shops kept their eyes and ears open for signs of it. A music store's help was instrumental in immediately recognizing the guitar when someone brought it in to sell after the burglary, and then in helping with information that helped police track down the guitar.

Hofeldt looks forward to getting the guitar back in the next few days.

He was grateful for everyone's efforts, especially for the police department's quick work on the case.

The Derailers travel around the world to perform, and Wichita Falls has earned a star on the band's map.

"I was really, really honored and pleased by the way all the folks we came across in Wichita Falls really pitched in and cared," Hofeldt said. What started out as bad news for the band wrapped up with "a good outcome," leaving The Derailers with good memories of Wichita Falls - and with hopes of returning to play sometime in the future.

(photo below courtesy of TDPer "Hekawi")