Additional Arrest of Oscar Statuettes Theft Suspect

LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT
PRESS RELEASE
Friday, October 13, 2000

"Additional Arrest of Oscar Statuettes Theft Suspect"

Los Angeles – On Wednesday, March 8, 2000, 55 Oscar statuettes were stolen from the Roadway Shipping Company facility in the City of Bell. On March 18, 2000, Mr. Willie Fulgear contacted members of the media, indicating that he had found 52 of the missing Oscar statuettes, in the area of Venice Boulevard and Western Avenue (to the rear of the Food 4 Less Supermarket) in the City of Los Angeles.

Some time after the Oscars were reported missing, two individuals were arrested in connection with the theft of the Oscar statuettes. Detectives from the Burglary-Auto Theft Division, of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), relentlessly pursued the investigation into this crime. As a result of their painstaking investigation, on Friday, October 13, 2000, LAPD Burglary-Auto Theft Division detectives arrested John Harris in connection with the theft of the Oscar statuettes. Not only did the investigation reveal that the stolen Oscars were in Harris’ residence at some point after they were stolen, but the investigation also revealed that John Harris is the brother of Willie Fulgear, the person who was awarded a $50,000.00 reward for locating the Oscars.

On October 13, 2000, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed one count of Receiving Stolen Property and one count of Accessory to Grant Theft against John Harris. Harris is being held on $20,000.00 bail.

The investigation into this matter is continuing and is being handled by Burglary-Auto Theft Division.

For further information regarding this press release, contact Media Relations Section at 213-485-3586.

This press release was prepared by Lieutenant Horace Frank, Officer-in-Charge, Media Relations Section.

For Release 4:15 pm PDT
October 13, 2000