Stolen statue's head is recovered

Only the head of the Native American rider who was sitting atop a galloping horse in an 8-foot-tall bronze monument has been recovered after the statue was reported missing last week from Garden State Park in Cherry Hill.

The statue that once graced the entrance to the racetrack was broken into bits and sold as scrap metal by thieves, Cherry Hill police reported yesterday.

The roughly 1,500-pound statue was estimated to be worth $500,000 as a work of art but only $3,900 as salvage, said Lt. William Kushina.

"It's no longer a statue," he said.

Metal thefts have been on the rise in recent months as the price of the commodity increases.

The statue was part of a pair that were among the last remaining markers of what had been a bustling racetrack in its heyday. The racetrack closed in 2001, a victim of the times, as its popularity faded.

Last Monday, police were informed the statue was missing after it had been relegated to a back corner of what is now a growing retail and housing complex off Route 70.

Acting on a tip, police on Saturday arrested Ian MacDonald, 33, of Audubon, charging him with theft and conspiracy. He was being held in the Camden County Jail on $55,000 bail. At least three others have been identified as co-conspirators and are wanted by police.

MacDonald also is wanted on warrants in Collingswood, Somerdale, Oaklyn and Cape May Court House. Police said he told them that he sold the statue to a Camden scrap yard.

Previously, police reported that they had found a backhoe near the statue's base and surmised it was used to knock the artwork off its pedestal. They said the site's developer had planned to display the statue.