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Statue of President Obama missing from James City County property returned

Posted at 3:52 PM, Apr 17, 2019
and last updated 2019-04-19 14:34:03-04

JAMES CITY Co., Va. - A statue of President Obama was missing from a property belonging to Howard Hankins.

The property contains 42 giant statues of the country's presidents. The statues used to lie at Presidents Park in Williamsburg.

Hankins moved them to his property and still lets people tour them on the weekends, but recently a smaller statue of President Obama disappeared.

"I couldn't believe it," Hankins told News 3 on Wednesday.

He says the Obama statue was inside of a trailer, which he kept unlocked. Before the statue was returned he said "We are putting it out if somebody has seen it or knows somebody with it, I'd appreciated it being returned and there would be no consequences."

On Thursday night a man in Richmond returned the statue. Hankins sent someone to Richmond to get it and wanted to stay out of it, keeping the person anonymous.

He said the bust is now kept in a secure trailer with cameras and alarms - he will take out this weekend for photo shoot purposes only.

He says it was a great, united effort from all the news outlets, and he is very appreciative.

Related: Man charged with grand larceny after statue stolen from Norfolk hotel