Help ID tricky thief seen stuffing expensive electric guitar down his pants

WANTED IN PIERCE COUNTY --
This case is a first -- a thief puts a $2,000 guitar down his pants to steal it.

Take a look at the video below as the crook tries to act all nonchalant at the Ted Brown Music store in the South Hill area of Pierce County on February 22nd. While employees were helping other customers, he loiters around for about 7 minutes before picking up a guitar and then slowly sliding the neck of the guitar down his pants leg. As you watch, he turns back to the rest of the store as he takes some time to pull his sweatshirt up over the rest of the guitar, then he continues to pretend to look at some amps before slowly waddling away, then he casually makes his way toward the front of the store and out the door.

A witness saw him leaving in a gray 2015 Kia Optima like this one with a large dent in the passenger side door.

The guitar is a blue and white Fender American Elite Stratocaster with a maple neck that retails for $1,949.



"The suspect went into the store knowing which guitar he was going to steal, because it was worth thousands of dollars and when you take a guitar that's worth that much, that puts a dent in a small business, so we want to make sure we get this guy identified, because this is probably not the first time he's done it and it won't be the last time if he gets away with it,” said Pierce County Sheriff’s Det. Ed Troyer.

The suspect appears to have dirty blonde hair and a scruffy beard or facial hair. He's dressed kind of sloppy.

If you know his name or can tell detectives where to find his gray Kia Optima, submit an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers and they will pay you a cash reward of up to $1,000.