Stolen bronze statue ends up in Florida scrap yard after 9 long years

By  Paul Ploumis 15 Sep 2015  Last updated at 02:44:39 GMT

A Dennis the Menace statue stolen from Moneterey, Calif. playground was recovered after nine years from a Florida scrap yard.

ORLANDO (Scrap Monster): A Dennis the Menace statue stolen from a playground in Monterey, California was recovered from amongst a pile of scrap materials last month. The 3.5 feet tall statue, weighing over 200 pounds and worth over $30,000, of the famous cartoon character was spotted at Brothers Scrap Metal recycle center owned by Dennis Leigh.

The statue was discovered by Leigh’s daughter-in-law among metal objects piled up for melting. Upon suspicion, she searched the internet for photos of the statue and happened to come across various news stories on the theft of the statue from a playground in California. Later, Leigh informed Florida police, who are currently in talks with California officials to get the statue back to the same park. The park authorities stated that the replacement statue at the park will be moved to a new location. Leigh noted that the statue would have been melted along with other metals, had it not been spotted at the right time.

According to officials, it is still unknown as to how the statue ended up in Florida scrap yard, which is almost 3,000 miles away from the place where it was stolen. Monterey police and Orange County Sheriff officials will conduct an inquiry into the matter. Meantime, the Florida scrap metal yard owner will receive $5,000 in reward for safe return of the statute. It must be noted that the City of Monterey had offered a reward of same amount when it was originally stolen in 2006.

The statue sculpted by Academy Award winning animator Wah Ming Chang, was placed in the Pearl Street playground in 1988.