Detectives are asking for the public’s help in recovering a $25,000 bronze statue after it was stolen from outside the San Dimas City Hall this week.
The art piece, titled “Catching Frogs,” depicts two boys crouched at a water fountain’s edge catching a frog, and was stolen sometime after 9 p.m. on Thursday, according to a statement from the San Dimas Sheriff’s Station.
Officials believe the artwork may have been taken for the value of the materials as scrap metal.
“We don’t think it’s art collectors,” said San Dimas Lt. Andy Berg.
Berg added that similar occurrences have been reported recently in other areas including Azusa.
The statue was dedicated in 1998, according to the San Dimas Festival of the Arts website. The public art piece gets dressed up once a year during the National Western Art Exhibition and Sale, when a “mysterious person enters the water and attaches articles of clothing to the two boys and the frog,” according to the site.
Festival board members and city officials were dismayed by the theft of the piece they say is beloved, according to the statement.
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The statue was still missing with no promising leads as of Saturday afternoon. Anyone with information can call the San Dimas Sheriff’s Station at 909-450-2700.
