Three Louisiana residents have been arrested for allegedly stealing a rare solid silver Abraham Lincoln statue from the Houmas House Estate and Gardens in Darrow and cutting it into pieces to sell at a pawn shops.
Steve Coronado, 28, Alma Fontenot, 20, and Bruce Shelvin, 49, all face simple burglary and felony theft over $25,000 charges, the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office said. Coronado also faces three counts of possession of stolen property.
Police claim the trio broke a window overnight Saturday to force their way into the plantation home, before making off with the Lincoln statue. The historic value of the statue is estimated at $166,000, authorities added.
After obtaining the statue, created by Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor behind Mount Rushmore, the suspects allegedly cut it into several pieces.
Some of those pieces were reportedly sold at a pawn shop and a gold and silver shop located in Metairie, Louisiana, the sheriff’s office said.
According to Sgt. Brandon Veal, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, Coronado was identified as the person who brough the pieces to the stores. He is accused of selling silver shavings at one location and exchaning a larger portion of the statue for cash at another. On September 10, deputies executed a search warrant at a home in Avondale, where they recovered an additional piece of the damaged sculpture.
Beth Higgins, manager of Southern Coin and Precious Metal in Metairie, said the store purchased a barely identifiable piece of the statue for $3,300. However, she noted that her staff were already aware of the Lincoln statue theft and immediately notified law enforcement.
“We want to see stolen items returned to the owners,” Higgins said, per NOLA.com. “That’s not the game we want to play.”
Coronado is currently being held at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna, charged with theft and three counts of possession of stolen property. His bond has been set at $37,500, and he is expected to be transported to Ascension Parish Jail later.
