43
Missing statue found
Photo
The Kneeling Girl, which was stolen Nov. 23 from Fellows Riverside Gardens, has been found. The Gardens will store the statue until the spring, then restore it to its perch above this pool in the Beeghly Garden.
By jeanne starmack
youngstown
The Kneeling Girl fountain statue has been found, but it’s not on its platform beside a pool in Fellows Riverside Gardens.
The statue, which was discovered missing Nov. 23, was turned over to police Tuesday by a scrap dealer. It has not been damaged but will stay in storage until the pool and its fountain in the Beeghly Garden are turned on again in the spring, said Keith Kaiser, horticulture director for Mill Creek MetroParks.
The Youngstown scrap dealer, who wants to remain anonymous, paid $89 for the 60-pound bronze statue of a kneeling, bent-over 5-year-old child whose hands are cupped as if she’s drinking from them. He recognized the statue from press reports, said MetroParks Police Chief Jim Willock.
Because of laws that require scrap dealers to get identification from people who bring in certain types of metals, the dealer asked for the driver’s license of the man who was selling the statue — Braylon M. Hunter, 20, of Volney Road.
Police charged Hunter with receiving stolen property. He was arraigned Thursday morning and is in the Mahoning County jail in lieu of $5,000 bond, said Youngstown Municipal Court. He will appear in court again Wednesday for a preliminary hearing.
Police don’t know for sure that Hunter stole the statue, only that he tried to sell it, said Willock.
MetroParks acquired the statue, by sculptor Joan Wobst, from a Columbus gallery in 2001. It was worth $12,500 then and appraises for $14,900 now, Kaiser said.
“We thank the scrap dealer,” said Willock, adding that the park is arranging to reimburse him.
Police aren’t sure when the statue was stolen, but said whoever did it took advantage of the proximity to the street and a loading dock nearby. There is a high fence around the garden that is locked at night but the lock was broken.
Willock said police suspected the statue would be sold for scrap. “With the unfortunate nature of the economy and the value of metal, we felt it had been taken for scrap,” he said.
Willock said MetroParks may install a security camera in the garden.