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.<\/p>\n
They are accused of taking several plaques in the early morning hours of Nov. 27 and putting them in a truck\u2019s bed, Long Beach police said. The park is at 1950 Lemon Ave.<\/p>\n
Detectives and staffers, police said in a statement, \u201ccollected security-camera footage, canvassed the area and began reviewing automatic-license-plate reader data to identify the suspects.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe theft and vandalism targeting the statue of Martin Luther King Jr. at MLK Park is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,\u201d Police Chief Wally Hebeish said in a statement. \u201cThe LBPD will continue to identify and arrest anyone involved in this type of insensitive criminal activity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe MLK statue holds immense sentimental value to our entire community, \u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Detectives were continuing their investigation and trying to recover the plaques.<\/p>\n