LAKELAND, Fla. (AP) — A large, black-and-white checkered statue of a swan that was stolen in Florida by a naked man was found on Friday.
The Polk County Sheriff’s office says the statue was found by a 32-year-old man who was fishing on a pond in Lakeland. The man returned home from fishing Thursday and told his family about the statue. When they saw the news of the stolen statue on TV Friday, they called authorities.
Officials say the swan doesn’t appear to be damaged.
Surveillance video from May 19 showed a man holding a white bucket in front of his nude body as he tried to open doors at a storage center in Lakeland. The video showed him driving away from the storage center in a stolen truck with the swan.
The man was arrested in nearby Tampa, according to law enforcement. He’s charged with the theft of the truck – but isn’t talking about the swan, said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, during a news conference Friday.
The swan is named “Aspyre” and is valued at $25,000.
Investigators say they’ve found the truck that was reported stolen in a nearby county, but they still don’t know why the man was naked as he apparently tried to break into Lakeland Cold Storage. Ronald Thompson, 47, being held at the Hillsborough County Jail, with bail set at $2,000, and is being investigated for the swan theft.
During the news conference, Judd had a message for anyone who knew the swan’s whereabouts.
“Look folks. Where are you going to hide a five-foot tall, checkered swan? If someone’s harboring this swan and not telling us, we’re going to put them in jail. And we hope when we find them, they have clothes on,” Judd said.
