Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

2 accused of scrapping 1,200 pound statue

|
|
 
  
Published: Dec. 17, 2008 at 12:09 PM

READING, Pa., Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Pennsylvania police said they arrested two men suspected of stealing a brass angel statue, cutting it up and selling the pieces as scrap.

John Hammond Jr. and Jamie Lee Custer, both 31, were charged by State Police at the Reading barracks with the Sept. 24 theft of the 1,200-pound Angel of the Roses that once stood atop a pedestal at the National Center for Padre Pio in Berks County, the Philadelphia Enquirer reported Wednesday.

The duo allegedly took the 8-foot-tall statue, which police valued at between $60,000 and $100,000, and sold the cut-up pieces as scrap for a profit of $952.

The statue was cast during the 1930s and once greeted visitors to a public building in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The founder of the Padre Pio Centre, Vera Calandra, purchased the statue for $26,000 in 1999.

Topics: John Hammond
© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Protesters, police clash at NATO summit Notable deaths of 2012 2012 Billboard Music Awards
The 137th Preakness Stakes Annual Solar eclipse occurs in U.S. Chen Guangcheng arrives in the U.S.
Additional Odd News Stories
Your Daily Horoscope
The almanac
1 of 20
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Visited in Washington
View Caption
Veterans etch the names of their friends inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War on May 26, 2012 in Washington, DC. More than 58,000 names of the servicemen who were killed or missing in the war are engraved on The Wall. UPI/Pat Benic
fark
The more an individual knows about science, the less likely they are to be believers in "global...
When you're 90 years old, you probably wish some nice young lady will come by your house so you...
The best cliff bound monasteries/zombie fortresses
Denver's solution for motorists who refuse to pull over for emergency vehicles: BASS
Never bring a pitchfork to a gunfight
Hi, I'm a stupid idiot. Please come rob me