Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe CHICAGO, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- The statue of the baby Jesus was back in the Nativity scene in Chicago's Daley Plaza after it was stolen by a 19-year-old man who told police he was "bored." Matthew Staib was charged with misdemeanor theft Sunday hours after he lifted the six-pound imported ceramic figurine from its wooden cradle and walked away with the statue under his coat. Advertisement He was caught a few blocks from his dormitory after witnesses flagged down police. "It wasn't really a prank. I was just walking around the city and bored. It wasn't premeditated," Staib, an art student from Texas, told the Chicago Sun-Times. He said he had been out drinking. The theft marked the third time a statue of baby Jesus has been stolen from the annual Christmas manger scene on the downtown plaza. In 1998, a 24-year-old graphic artist was charged with stealing the hand-painted porcelain figurine. In 1999, it was found in a Union Station locker after missing for two days when police received an anonymous call to 911. Authorities added wire fasteners after last theft but Staib said it was easy to dislodge the figurine. Advertisement
