Marilyn Monroe Statue Thief Gets Jail Time
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The Southern California man who stole an iconic Marilyn Monroe statue from Hollywood was sentenced to one year in jail and ordered to pay more than $14,000, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.
Austin Mikel Clay, 25, entered an open no contest plea to one felony count each of grand theft of property valued at more than $950 and vandalism causing over $400 damage. The open plea means he didn’t negotiate a sentence with prosecutors.
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After entering his plea, Superior Court Judge Dorothy B. Reyes sentenced the Glendale man to one year in county jail and ordered him to pay $14,260 in restitution, prosecutors said in a press release.
The Monroe statue that topped the Ladies of Hollywood gazebo at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue was reported missing on June 16. Clay was arrested June 21 at his home.
Police said they found evidence, just not the statue, which was sawed off the top of the gazebo that also depicts Mae West, Anna Mae Wong, Dolores Del Rio and Dorothy Dandridge and celebrates film actresses representing different cultures who helped change the movie business.
“Looking back at the [security] video, it would be reasonable that the statue broke and could be in multiple pieces,” LAPD Detective Douglas Oldfield said at the time.
The small bronze-colored statue features Monroe in her iconic windblown dress pose from 1955’s The Seven Year Itch.
Clay was already on probation for vandalizing President Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In addition to his plea involving the statue, he admitted violating his probation in the Trump star case.
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