Another bronze statue stolen

The statue of the boy and girl on a teeter-totter had been a part of the scenery across the street from the Auburn Hills golf course for so long, John Oborny said, that it was easy to forget it was there.

Until it wasn’t there.

The bronze statue was stolen sometime late last week from its perch at Hayden and 135th Street West, said Oborny, president of the Enclave Homeowners Association, in southwest Wichita.

“The first time we noticed was last Friday evening,” Oborny said. “It could have been gone anytime last week.”

The statue is worth $5,000 or more, said Oborny, who alerted police Saturday. The artwork had stood at the entrance to the Enclave neighborhood since 2006.

The theft was discovered two days after police found another stolen bronze statue – an eagle taken from the grounds of the Quivira Council Boy Scouts of America office near 32nd North and Oliver.

“I’m thinking it’s a copycat” thief, said Capt. Jose Salcido, who lives near where the statue was stolen.

“Hopefully, somebody will call Crime Stoppers,” he said. “This was a beautiful bronze (statue) that they stole. It’s crazy.”

Bolts holding the statue in place had rusted so badly that freeing the artwork from the base would not have been difficult, Salcido said. But the statue weighed at least 500 pounds, he said, so the theft would have required at least two people and a truck.

“It’s a good-looking sculpture,” Salcido said.

This story was originally published October 5, 2015 at 2:55 PM with the headline "Another bronze statue stolen."