Suspect arrested in theft of F. Scott Fitzgerald statue

ST. PAUL >> SUMMIT HILL

Pieces of bronze figure recovered at metal recycler

Pieces of heavily damaged bronze statue of a young F. Scott Fitzgerald were recovered this week from a metal recycler. St. Paul police have arrested a suspect and are seeking the rest of the statue. COURTESY PHOTO — ST. PAUL POLICE DEPARTMENT

Image

By Mara H. Gottfried

mgottfried@pioneerpress.com

When pieces of an F. Scott Fitzgerald statue stolen from St. Paul were found, the owner found himself in a unique position.

Someone told Ed Conley: “You’re the only guy in the United States that has to walk into a room and identify the decapitated … F. Scott Fitzgerald.”

Police announced Friday they’d recovered parts of the bronze statue of the renowned author and arrested a man.

Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul in 1896 and attended St. Paul Academy, which was then on Dale Street just off Summit Avenue. A statue of a young Fitzgerald, with books on his lap, usually sits on the side of the stairs leading to the front door of the Academy Professional Building, which Conley owns.

The large statue was discovered stolen last Friday, likely taken using a cutting torch. St. Paul police on Tuesday asked anyone with information to come forward.

A Northern Metal Recycling employee contacted police on Tuesday to report a man had attempted to sell the statue, which had been cut up into pieces. The employee was able to hold onto some of the pieces before the man fled.

The statue’s head remains missing, Conley said. Police are asking anyone with information about missing parts of the statue to call them at 651-291-1111.

“Unfortunately, it’s really chopped up,” Conley said. If the head is found — “it sounds kind of morbid, right?” — Conley said they’ll look into whether restoration is a possibility.

If the scrapyard had accepted it, the metal would have been worth about $500, but creating a new statue could cost $50,000, Conley said. It was about $20,000 when Conley commissioned local artist Aaron Dysart to create the statue, which was installed in 2006.

The statue was out for the community to see, so losing it is “disappointing,” Conley said.

Investigators met with Northern Metal Recycling management to recover parts of the statue, along with a metal plaque and bird that had been reported missing on Jan. 26 by Unity Church in St. Paul, near the building where the statue was stolen.

The company had the license plate of the Jeep the suspect arrived in with another person, and the man had given his name, according to a criminal complaint.

St. Paul police SWAT officers carried out a search warrant on McLean Avenue near Johnson Parkway in St. Paul on Thursday and arrested Dustan Charles Schmitt, 37, at his residence.

Police found a blowtorch in a Jeep parked behind the home, and three small torch heads in Schmitt’s bedroom, the complaint said. The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office charged Schmitt on Friday with receiving stolen property.

The investigation continues, including whether other people were involved.

Police Chief Axel Henry thanked Northern Metal Recycling “for their vigilance and commitment to upholding the new state law which requires anyone looking to sell scrap metal copper worth more than $25 to first obtain a license,” he said in a statement.

He commended the company’s “employee whose intuition helped us recover what’s left of this sentimental piece of St. Paul history, while also likely preventing additional metal thefts from happening in our community.”