A 39-year-old man has been arrested for digging up and stealing a vintage Fender guitar from a grave.

Steven Conrad, an employee of the Allouez Catholic Cemetary in Wisconsin, was charged with “felony theft from person or corpse” after pinching a vintage Fender Telecaster guitar from the coffin of an elderly man; Randall Jourdan’s dying wish was to be buried with his “pride and joy”, a guitar he had owned and played the past 40 years, a wish that Conrad was aware of.

Had he not become over-excited and ranted to a co-worker; (“That’s a Telly, a really expensive guitar. I have to have that guitar. It’s too expensive to be in a crypt.”) Conrad may have gotten away with it. But unfortunately, he’s currently in remand at Brown County Jail. His justification? “I just have a respect for fine musical instruments.” And zero respect for the dead, clearly.