Man Steals Virgin Mary Statue - Paints It To Look Like Clown

<snip>

AUSTIN, Minn. --An Austin man who admitted that he stole a statue of the Virgin Mary from a cemetery pleaded guilty to gross misdemeanor theft on Friday in Mower County District Court.

Briceson Bryan, 20, admitted that he stole the statue July 29 from Calvary Cemetery.

According to a criminal complaint, Bryan toppled the 5-foot-tall statue, stole it and painted it to look like a clown. Authorities found the statue in November in a closet at his girlfriend's North Mankato apartment. The girlfriend, Ashley Schwarzenbach, earlier pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact.

A break in the case came when the cemetery's caretaker got an anonymous call from a woman who said she knew where he could find the monument. He then found a MySpace.com site showing pictures of Bryan, Schwarzenbach and the statue.

The statue is being fixed and should be returned to the cemetery around Memorial Day, cemetery officials said.

In exchange for his plea and an agreement to pay at least $1,000 in restitution, prosecutors dropped a felony theft charge. Judge Fred Wellmann said Bryan will likely receive a suspended jail sentence and be ordered to perform community service when he is sentenced May 25.

http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2007/03/26/man_steals_virgin_mary_statue_paints_it?mode=PF