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St. Paul police on Friday announced the arrest of a man in connection with the 

 of the author F. Scott Fitzgerald earlier in the month.

Authorities allege that 37-year-old Dustan Charles Schmitt of St. Paul attempted to sell the bronze statue — which had been cut up into pieces — at a metal recycling business, which in turn contacted authorities. And they said Schmitt is linked to the theft of other metal objects from a St. Paul church.

Schmitt is charged with one felony count of receiving stolen property.

According to police and court documents, the Fitzgerald statue — estimated to weigh up to 150 pounds, with an estimated replacement value of $25,000 — was cut from its base and stolen between Feb. 3 and Feb. 7. It had been on display outside the former St. Paul Academy building on North Dale Street for nearly 20 years. Fitzgerald was a student there in his early years in St. Paul.

On Tuesday, an employee at Northern Metal Recycling in St. Paul contacted police to report that a man had tried to sell pieces of the statue. The employee was able to hold on to some of the pieces, and get a license plate number, before the man fled. Authorities also recovered a metal plaque and bird that had been reported missing from Unity Church in St. Paul last month.

Authorities on Thursday executed a search warrant at Schmitt’s home on St. Paul’s Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood, and recovered a propane tank, blowtorch and torch heads. Schmitt was arrested without incident.

“We want to thank 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,” St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry said in a statement. 

“I also want to commend the Northern Metal Recycling 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.”

Police said some pieces of the statue are still missing. Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to call St. Paul police at (651) 291-1111.

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St. Paul police on Friday announced the arrest of a man in connection with the theft of a statue of the author F. Scott Fitzgerald. The man is accused of cutting the statue into pieces, and trying to sell it to a metal recycler.

Stolen F. Scott Fitzgerald statue recovered in pieces in St. Paul; suspect charged

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