{"id":185208,"date":"2026-02-19T22:47:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T22:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/185208\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T22:47:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T22:47:12","slug":"tustin-faces-replacing-40000-in-stolen-veterans-plaque-orange-and-huntington-beach-had-thefts-too-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/185208\/","title":{"rendered":"Tustin faces replacing $40,000 in stolen veterans plaque, Orange and Huntington Beach had thefts, too \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three Orange County cities are figuring out how, and if, they can replace tens of thousands of dollars\u2019 worth of memorial plaques stolen from around their communities in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

Tustin leaders plan to replace five bronze plaques valued at about $40,000 that were stolen last month from the city\u2019s veterans monument in time for Memorial Day weekend.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Three bronze plaques are missing from a memorial at Tustin\u2019s Veterans Sports Park in Tustin, CA, on Tuesday, February 17, 2026. The plaques are among six that Tustin police say were stolen during the early morning hours of Jan. 20, 2026. Sean Green, of Long Beach, was arrested for stealing the monuments and was also linked to bronze plaque thefts in Huntington Beach, Santa Ana and the city of Orange, according to the Orange Police Department. He was arrested by Orange police on Feb. 5. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Patriot<\/p>\n

Patriot Point is seen during a ribbon-cutting ceremony, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Huntington Beach, Calif. (Photo by William Liang, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Mark<\/p>\n

Mark Mayes speaks during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Patriot Point, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Huntington Beach, Calif. (Photo by William Liang, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Three bronze plaques are missing from a memorial at Tustin\u2019s Veterans Sports Park in Tustin, CA, on Tuesday, February 17, 2026. The plaques are among six that Tustin police say were stolen during the early morning hours of Jan. 20, 2026. Sean Green, of Long Beach, was arrested for stealing the monuments and was also linked to bronze plaque thefts in Huntington Beach, Santa Ana and the city of Orange, according to the Orange Police Department. He was arrested by Orange police on Feb. 5. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Three bronze plaques are missing from a memorial at Tustin\u2019s Veterans Sports Park in Tustin, CA, on Tuesday, February 17, 2026. The plaques are among six that Tustin police say were stolen during the early morning hours of Jan. 20, 2026. Sean Green, of Long Beach, was arrested for stealing the monuments and was also linked to bronze plaque thefts in Huntington Beach, Santa Ana and the city of Orange, according to the Orange Police Department. He was arrested by Orange police on Feb. 5. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A bronze plaque at Tustin\u2019s Veterans Sports Park in Tustin, CA, on Tuesday, February 17, 2026. Tustin police say six plaques were stolen during the early morning hours of Jan. 20, 2026. Sean Green, of Long Beach, was arrested for stealing the monuments and was also linked to bronze plaque thefts in Huntington Beach, Santa Ana and the city of Orange, according to the Orange Police Department. He was arrested by Orange police on Feb. 5. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Three bronze plaques are missing from a memorial at Tustin\u2019s Veterans Sports Park in Tustin, CA, on Tuesday, February 17, 2026. The plaques are among six that Tustin police say were stolen during the early morning hours of Jan. 20, 2026. Sean Green, of Long Beach, was arrested for stealing the monuments and was also linked to bronze plaque thefts in Huntington Beach, Santa Ana and the city of Orange, according to the Orange Police Department. He was arrested by Orange police on Feb. 5. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Three bronze plaques are missing from a memorial at Tustin\u2019s Veterans Sports Park in Tustin, CA, on Tuesday, February 17, 2026. The plaques are among six that Tustin police say were stolen during the early morning hours of Jan. 20, 2026. Sean Green, of Long Beach, was arrested for stealing the monuments and was also linked to bronze plaque thefts in Huntington Beach, Santa Ana and the city of Orange, according to the Orange Police Department. He was arrested by Orange police on Feb. 5. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A bronze plaque at Tustin\u2019s Veterans Sports Park in Tustin, CA, on Tuesday, February 17, 2026. Tustin police say six plaques were stolen during the early morning hours of Jan. 20, 2026. Sean Green, of Long Beach, was arrested for stealing the monuments and was also linked to bronze plaque thefts in Huntington Beach, Santa Ana and the city of Orange, according to the Orange Police Department. He was arrested by Orange police on Feb. 5. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 9<\/p>\n

Three bronze plaques are missing from a memorial at Tustin\u2019s Veterans Sports Park in Tustin, CA, on Tuesday, February 17, 2026. The plaques are among six that Tustin police say were stolen during the early morning hours of Jan. 20, 2026. Sean Green, of Long Beach, was arrested for stealing the monuments and was also linked to bronze plaque thefts in Huntington Beach, Santa Ana and the city of Orange, according to the Orange Police Department. He was arrested by Orange police on Feb. 5. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWith Tustin being a military community, this heritage is vital,\u201d said Tustin Mayor Austin Lumbard, calling it \u201ca sad day\u201d when someone would take from community monuments.<\/p>\n

The custom-made plaques were stolen overnight Jan. 20. Among them was a plate from a time capsule buried when Veterans Sports Park first opened<\/a>, another commemorating the park\u2019s opening and three on the large monument dedicated to the U.S. Army, Navy and Coast Guard, according to the mayor.<\/p>\n

The veterans monument, in the shape of a star with the large round plaques dedicated to each service branch at each point, still has the medallions for the Marine Corps and Air Force.<\/p>\n

Similar thefts have occurred in Huntington Beach and Orange, including Old Towne Orange.<\/p>\n

A Long Beach man has been charged with multiple felony counts of grand theft and vandalism in connection to thefts at the parks in Orange County and in Long Beach.<\/a> The plaques have not been recovered and are believed to have been recycled before his arrest, the Tustin Police Department has said.<\/p>\n

Huntington Beach Mayor Casey McKeon said six bronze memorial plaques worth roughly $20,000 were also taken, calling it the \u201cheight of disrespect and disgrace.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stolen markers include several plaques honoring veterans, private family plaques and a lifeguards\u2019 plaque erected on Huntington Beach Pier, he said.<\/p>\n

Several veteran plaques stolen from the benches at Patriot Point will be replaced by the nonprofit Tee It Up For The Troops, McKeon said. The new memorials are being manufactured right now. A stolen plaque honoring lifeguard pioneer Vincent G. Moorhouse still needs replacing. And the plaques stolen from flagpoles at the pier are being replaced by the city, McKeon said.<\/p>\n

In Orange, eight plaques worth roughly $34,000 were stolen, mostly from parks, including Eisenhower Park and Veterans Memorial Park. A few were also pried from \u201ca couple of city walls in the downtown area,\u201d Orange Police Lt. Mike Monjaraz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are historical plaques. Some have been here since 1953,\u201d he said, referring to a commemorative plaque taken from Hart Park, the city\u2019s oldest park, established in the mid-1930s.<\/p>\n

He said the theft left bare a historical marker at the corner of West Almond and South Glassell streets. Several plaques had decorated that marker, erected in 1986 to mark Old Towne Orange\u2019s official recognition in 1981 as a historic landmark.<\/p>\n

Police worked with neighboring law enforcement agencies, relying on surveillance footage of several individuals caught on camera to make arrests, he said.<\/p>\n

Lumbard said \u201cfortunately\u201d there was minimal damage to the concrete structures at the veterans memorial. He added he has explored grant options to help cover replacement costs, but so far, it appears the city will bear the expense.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd yes,\u201d Lumbard said, \u201cwe will get them installed before Memorial Day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three Orange County cities are figuring out how, and if, they can replace tens of thousands of dollars\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185209,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,179,588,1071,23,131,133,132,171,611,136,6917,513],"class_list":{"0":"post-185208","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-community","10":"tag-huntington-beach","11":"tag-local-government","12":"tag-local-news","13":"tag-long-beach","14":"tag-long-beach-headlines","15":"tag-long-beach-news","16":"tag-orange","17":"tag-orange-county","18":"tag-top-stories","19":"tag-tustin","20":"tag-veterans"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}