SEATTLE (AP) - Seattle police on Monday arrested a 47-year-old man who is allegedly behind the theft of two, ornamental bronze gates that stood since the 70’s at the entrance to the Washington State Arboretum in Seattle.
The man made appeared in court Tuesday, and a judge found probable cause that he committed the alleged crimes of trafficking in stolen property and possession of stolen property, according to a spokesman for King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg. The state requested the man be held in lieu of $20,000 bail but the judge ordered him released from jail on personal recognizance, The Seattle Times reported.
The gates, which were commissioned in 1971 and designed by internationally renowned sculptor George Tsutakawa, were reported stolen March 19 after gardeners discovered the gates missing and bolt cutters on the ground. Thieves also stole copper downspouts from the visitors center.
Two people tried to sell the gates and downspouts to a recycling center on March 20, but the business refused to buy them, according to police.
Police questioned a man who said he drove the suspect to the recycling center and later dropped him off at a homeless encampment, according to the probable cause statement. Detectives found remnants of one gate under a box truck in the encampment, the statement says.
Police have also located the second gate, which was largely intact, though it was not clear Tuesday where that gate was found.
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