Two men have been arrested in connection with the stealing of plaques from the Martin Luther King Jr. statue in the park of the same name.
They are accused of taking several plaques in the early morning hours of Nov. 27 and putting them in a truck’s bed, Long Beach police said. The park is at 1950 Lemon Ave.
Detectives and staffers, police said in a statement, “collected security-camera footage, canvassed the area and began reviewing automatic-license-plate reader data to identify the suspects.”
A 44-year-old man and a 34-year-old one were arrested this month on suspicion of grand theft; the second man was also arrested on suspicion of conspiracy and possession of methamphetamine.
“The theft and vandalism targeting the statue of Martin Luther King Jr. at MLK Park is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” Police Chief Wally Hebeish said in a statement. “The LBPD will continue to identify and arrest anyone involved in this type of insensitive criminal activity.
“The MLK statue holds immense sentimental value to our entire community, ” he said.
Detectives were continuing their investigation and trying to recover the plaques.
A plaque was stolen from the statue at least one before, in 2019. The statue has been in the park since 1986.