A St. Paul man admitted in court to stealing a bronze F. Scott Fitzgerald statue months after the figure was cut from a building where the late novelist studied.
Dustan Schmitt, 37, pleaded guilty in Ramsey County courts on Friday to the charge of receiving stolen property. Schmitt was arrested days after police reported that the statue was stolen from outside the former St. Paul Academy, where Fitzgerald attended classes. Schmitt initially entered a not guilty plea to the charge in March, but changed his plea for a deal that drops a 2022 case for drug possession and a 2023 case of motor vehicle theft.
St. Paul police revealed that the statue was stolen on Feb. 11, asking community members to help find the culprit. The statue was commissioned by building owner Ed Conley in 2006. The bronze sculpture depicts Fitzgerald as a teenager, with books in his lap. The piece is valued at around $25,000.
On Feb. 11, a worker from EMR Recycling reported that someone tried to sell them cut pieces of the statue. The worker kept some of those pieces and recorded Schmitt’s name and license plate from a black Jeep.
Investigators closed in on Schmitt and searched his home on the 1100 block of McLean Avenue, finding ID cards and a small green propane tank with a blow torch in his Jeep.
Judge David Brown is scheduled to sentence Schmitt on Oct. 6.
