[MSN] US. The case of the stolen statues: Bronze artwork returned, one man in jail

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      The case of the stolen statues: Bronze artwork returned, one man
      in jail

By BEN CRITES
bcrites at islandpacket.com <mailto:bcrites at islandpacket.com>
843-706-8138
Published Wednesday, May 9, 2007

At the end of a high-speed chase on Hilton Head Island in March, the 
driver that deputies were pursuing abandoned his vehicle and his passengers.

Those passengers weren't in any position to flee.

They were bronze statues created by renowned professional sculptor W. 
Stanley "Sandy" Proctor -- the same statues stolen from the Red Piano 
Art Gallery on Hilton Head earlier that night.

After a lengthy investigation, the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office says 
it can't prove Jonathan David Limbert stole the statues, valued at 
$60,000-$80,000, from the studio March 23.

Instead, deputies arrested Limbert, 25, of Bluffton, on a felony charge 
of receiving stolen goods. He turned himself in around 6:45 a.m. 
Saturday at the Beaufort County Detention Center.

The "goods" were the statues depicting two boys, a girl and a dog 
playing follow the leader, similar to those Proctor created for the 
Florida Governor's Mansion in 1998.

Limbert told investigators the statues were given to a friend to sell as 
scrap metal, according to sheriff's Capt. Toby McSwain. Limbert also 
said that friend was in the car with him at the time of the chase. 
Deputies have been unable to confirm that.

Here's how things unfolded:

At around 1 a.m. March 23, a Chevrolet Blazer that Limbert was thought 
to be driving sped past a deputy on William Hilton Parkway near Park 
Lane, according to McSwain.

The deputy made a U-turn and followed the SUV, which quickly pulled into 
the Hargray parking lot. The SUV then drove over shrubs, through a ditch 
and back onto the parkway.

The chase ended after the Blazer pulled into the back of Fresh Market 
Shoppes and the driver fled. At first, the deputy thought others might 
have been inside the SUV.

There were, sort of.

The silhouettes he saw likely were those of the stolen statues, McSwain 
said.

McSwain said Limbert's mother brought her son back to the site of the 
abandoned vehicle. A Bluffton police officer had told her deputies were 
looking for him.

The Sheriff's Office stowed the statues in a conference room at its 
Hilton Head office. The next day they got a call from Ben Whiteside, 
owner of Red Piano Art Gallery on Cordillo Parkway.

Someone had stolen the statues from outside the gallery.

Whiteside said the theft could not have been easy.

The roughly 200-pound statues were fastened to concrete slabs with 
4-inch thick steel bars. To free them, one would have to saw through the 
steel bars and lug the heavy art away, he said.

"It takes at least three guys and a hacksaw to move one of (the 
statues)," Whiteside said. "They had to be there for an hour at least. 
You can't do it quickly."

The statues were returned to the gallery the next day with about $3,000 
worth of damage. The art is in the process of being restored and will 
likely be displayed again, Whiteside said.

Limbert was being held at the Beaufort County jail Tuesday night, 
according to the jail's online log.

Red Piano is one of several private galleries who sell Proctor's work.

Among the many commissioned pieces he has created are a statue of 
Florida State University football coach Bobby Bowden, "Father Kelly" for 
Bishop England High School in Charleston and "The Sunday Paper" for the 
Tallahassee Democrat newspaper in Florida.

"(Proctor) was thrilled we got them right back," Whiteside said.

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