Delta Chi's bronze Vulcun found after reward offer

By Gwyneth Gibby

Gazette-Times reporter

Corvallis police recovered a statue stolen in June from Delta Chi fraternity at Oregon State University and arrested a suspect in the theft on Tuesay.

The 3-foot-tall bronze statue of the Roman god Vulcan was stolen from Delta Chi the night of June 10, and has been estimated to be worth as much as $100,000.

Corvallis police received a phone call Tuesday, after a newspaper article announced the fraternity's insurance company was offering a $5,000 reward for the statue's safe return, or for information leading to the arrest and successful prosecution of the thief.

According to police, the person who called was someone who had knowledge of who had taken the statue and where it was being kept. Acting on information from the phone tip, detectives went to a private residence in the 400 block of Northwest 10th Street, and recovered the statue, which was hidden in the basement.

Police arrested Marcus Annis, 20, who lived in the house, and charged him with first-degree burglary, a Class A felony, and aggravated theft in the first degree, a Class B felony. The theft charge was aggravated because the value of the statue is estimated to be more than $10,000.

Police have not released the name of the person who called with the tip. They continue to investigate and there may be more arrests in the future.

According to a police report, the statue was stolen sometime around 2:30 a.m. June 10. A fraternity member woke to the sound of someone opening the door to the sleeping porch and calling out "Hey guys!" When he went to check who it was, he found no one. But the statue was gone and a ground-floor window was standing open.

Detectives confirmed the statue was heavy, weighing between 60 and 80 pounds. But it was not so heavy that one person would have required help to commit the theft.

The statue was given to the house in 1926, when Charles Rosenkrans, a recent graduate and member of Delta Chi, was killed in an accident. His family donated the statue of Vulcan, god of fire and metal working, to the house where it has been on display ever since.

Police had circulated photographs of the statue to artist and art dealers in order to more accurately establish the value of the piece. One estimate was of the worth was as much as $100,000, but the artist who created the work remains a mystery. Now that the statue has been recovered, the fraternity may be able to solve that puzzle.

Anyone with information relating to the June 10 burglary of Delta Chi is asked to contact Detective James Poole at 766-6924