[redriderbob]

Randolph County [NC] sheriff's deputies have charged three teenagers in the theft of the bronze statue from the Petty racing family's new Victory Junction Gang Camp for sick children. Andrew Marco Callicutt, 19, and Edward York Branch, 18, both of Randleman; and Charles Thurman Bailey Jr., 17, of Trinity, have all been charged with felony larceny. Deputies said they obtained arrest warrants Tuesday and served them on Callicutt and Bailey, who were each placed under $2,500 bonds. Officers said Wednesday afternoon that Branch was away with a relative and would be served later. All three confessed to stealing the statue, said Lt. Chris Maness. Investigators don't know why the teenagers stole it. Maness speculated that the theft was a "spur-of-the-moment thing." The sculpture depicts two children playing leap frog. It was stolen between June 28 and June 29. That was less than two weeks after the Petty racing family opened the camp for children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses. The statue has since been returned to the camp. The staff plans to place it back in its original location and secure it to prevent another theft. Detectives said they got a tip July 2 that the teenagers were bragging about stealing the statue, which is 6 feet high and 4 feet wide. Fearing the law was closing in on them, they abandoned the statue in a church parking lot on Providence Church Road on the night of June 30, authorities said. Kyle Petty and his wife, Pattie, bought the $1,500 sculpture from Metropolitan Galleries in High Point. It was imported from Thailand.(News & Record)(7-15-2004)

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