Heart's 2025 Royal Flush Tour already came through Canada earlier this year, but another American leg recently got underway on May 31 in Atlantic City, NJ. However, the night before the performance, two "irreplaceable instruments" were stolen.
UPDATE (6/5, 5:02 p.m. ET): As NBC10 Philadelphia reports, a man has been arrested for allegedly stealing Heart's instruments.
Pleasantville, NJ's Garfield Bennett, 57, was charged with burglary and theft in connection with the band's missing property. After being found by police on South Kentucky Avenue, he was taken into custody and remanded to the Atlantic County Justice Facility.
Bennett was previously arrested in April for a prior burglary. According to police, he is believed to have sold one of Heart's instruments, although they are currently unsure where it was sold. Anyone in possession of the stolen instrument is being urged to return it to the Atlantic City Police, and will be arrested and charged with possession of stolen property if they don't surrender it.
After Heart's gear was loaded into the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Nancy Wilson's custom-made baritone Telecaster, as well as band member Paul Moak's vintage 1966 Gibson EM-50 mandolin that he's been playing for over 25 years, were both swiped from the venue.
"These instruments are more than just tools of our trade — they're extensions of our musical souls," Wilson said in a statement shared to social media. "The baritone Tele was made uniquely for me, and Paul's mandolin has been with him for decades. We're heartbroken, and we're asking for their safe return — no questions asked. Their value to us is immeasurable."
The band are offering an unspecified reward for the instruments' safe return, and are urging anyone with information about their whereabouts or the theft to come forward.