SALT LAKE CITY — The St. Ambrose statue was recovered Monday night, but police say it now sports a Superman-like logo on the chest.
Detectives following tips from the public and leads located the missing 800-pound statue in the garage of a Midvale house on Monday.
The 31-year-old man believed to have stolen the beloved religious symbol from the St. Ambrose Catholic Church sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning has been arrested, Salt Lake Police Sgt. Robin Snyder said. The statue is valued at nearly $30,000.
The Rev. Andrzej Skrzypiec of the 2315 E. Redondo Ave. (2000 South) parish church said he saw the statue when he checked the back doors about 10 p.m. following a prayer service Friday, but it was gone the next morning.
The church received a call Monday morning from a man asking how much they would pay for a reward. The man supposedly offered to meet up with the reverend for the $1,000 reward, but police were able to track the call, which matched the address church officials were given by the man, and locate the religious statue in Midvale.
"Yesterday, (we were) losing hope, and today, (it was) almost like a miracle," said the Rev. Skrzypiec in a phone interview with the Deseret News.
The statue was returned to the church about 8 p.m.
The elation the Rev. Skrzypiec feels at having the statue back overshadows the damage to the statue, he said, which includes an S with a triangle around it written in permanent black marker on the chest as well as a scratch on the nose. The pastor thinks weathering can improve the statue's condition.
Chris Steven Hayward, who police say is being uncooperative, was booked into Salt Lake County Jail on suspicion of possession of stolen property, a second-degree felony.
Police don't believe at this time that Hayward had anything to do with a "Little Mermaid" bronze statue that also went missing over the past month. The 3-foot-tall replica of the famous Danish statue of Hans Christian Andersen's "Little Mermaid," one of only four made and valued at $28,000, was stolen from the International Peace Gardens on Feb. 26 at Jordan Park at 1000 S. 900 West.
e-mail: lgroves@desnews.com