Did the exact same thing to me in 2005, telling a hard luck story, dead wife, troubled teen daughter with medical issues. He borrowed a valuable guitar, promised to return it two weeks later, but didn't. Didn't return calls for a while, then all of a sudden did, at which time he would swear he would make good, passionately, pleadingly promising he would make good, then never called or showed up at appointed times.
I ran into him 18 months later, at a guitar shop, and he looked at me like he had seen a ghost. Swore he would get me the guitar, but wouldn't let me follow him home. And because we were in a store I respect, I didn't want to cause a scene.
At one point, he even said "If I don't show up you can call the cops". But when I called, the cops said that, because I had lent him the item, it wasn't considered stealing and there was nothing they could do. I tried to track him down ever couple of months, but he finally stopped answering calls and texts. I gave up three years ago.
Shortly after he did this, a friend called to tell me he had tried the same scam with him. Multiple friends have since reported he has done the same to to them and/or their friends, borrowing guitars, microphones, outboard gear, anything portable and musical, of value.
The music production credits were true back in the 80s. I worked with him then, and he was legit, hence my trusting him when he materialized 18 years later. No idea if his situation with his late wife and troubled kid are true, but it's irrelevant. He has been scamming people right and left for years.
Inasmuch as he tried to borrow someone else's guitar a few weeks later, while he was theoretically in possession of mine, he clearly didn't need the guitar except to sell or hock. He's a con man and a thief, pure and simple. His name is s**t in the record business, and if I have anything to say about it, it will get sh***ier. I'm a actively working pro with a clean reputation, so I can spread the word far and wide for years to come.