Land Speed sculpture part III...

$100,000 statue stolen from dealership found

January 4th, 2010 @ 4:05pm
By Sam Penrod

LINDON -- The mystery involving the disappearance of a statue worth $100,000 from a motorcycle dealership in Lindon over the weekend appears to be solved.

The statue was found at the home of the artist who created it. It seems he believes the statue is his and was on loan, while the Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealership listed it as an asset in its current bankruptcy filing. Now Lindon police are investigating the artist.

Lindon Police Chief Cody Cullimore says, "He has expressed his opinion that it is his property. He has admitted he was involved in arranging to have it removed from Timpanogos Harley-Davidson's property. So again, we are determining if there was anything criminal in this incident."

Store managers called police Saturday morning and reported the 4-ton metal statue on a rock slab, title "Land Speed," was missing.

When news got out Saturday about the theft, police received numerous calls from people who saw it being removed by a crane truck.

Detectives eventually tracked down the statue at the home of the artist, Jeff Decker, in Springville.

Cullimore says, "He is of the belief it was just loaned to the dealership for display. He allegedly has a buyer for the artwork, somewhere back in the Midwest, and that's is what he states his intentions were, was to sell the artwork he believes is his."

Police say Decker did know the dealership had listed the statue as an asset in its bankruptcy filing in late November.

The artist claims he told the dealership he was coming to get it and was told he could not, but apparently he did take it on Friday.

The police will pass the case to prosecutors, who will have to determine if it is a criminal case or a civil one.

Regardless it appears the statue will be fought over in court.

-courtesy of KSL.com