A Florida man is currently being sought by Volusia County police under suspicion of grand theft and fraudulent use of a credit card after allegedly having used a 78 year-old’s credit card to purchase items totalling around $17,000, including 11 Gibson Les Pauls.
Suspect, Mystery Shiloh Demarest, 49, lived with the woman after she allowed him to move into her home in 2019 to help her with household chores and shopping while she cared for her sick husband.
Sheriffs say that Demarest was given access to the woman’s credit cards in order to buy groceries, but shortly after, large packages started to arrive at the address. Demarest claimed that the packages were his girlfriend’s responsibility, and told the victim that they would be returned for a refund.
Wanted: Mystery Shiloh Demarest, who moved into a 78-year-old DeLand woman’s home to help care for her ailing husband, is facing fraud and theft charges after he used her bank card to buy close to $17K in guitars & music equipment. https://t.co/oAuydKmDvF pic.twitter.com/8OgR2x5Rb9April 12, 2022
The woman lost touch with Demarest and later found charges to her account for purchases from GuitarAttic and Reverb, as well as payments for a storage unit, which had already become overdue for rent payments and as such was listed on storage bidding site, StorageTreasures.com.
Upon gaining access to the storage facility via a search warrant, officers discovered 11 Gibson Les Pauls, two Marshall heads, seven assorted Marshall/Mesa-Boogie speaker cabinets as well as a drum kit and a number of stands.
As mentioned, Demarest is wanted by Volusia Country Sheriff’s office, who believe he could be in the vaccinity of Raleigh, North Carolina after he travelled there three years ago using the victim’s credit card to pay for flights.
