UPDATE: Police Save Monkey, Ballerina Statues from Meltdown

UPDATE (3:57 p.m.)—Two stolen bronze monkey statues and one ballerina statue are safe after Baltimore County police tracked down the items, said Lt. Jay Landsman of the Pikesville precinct.

"They were saved just before they were melted down," Landsman said of the three lawn statues

The , valued at $2,000, were stolen Nov. 30. And a ballerina, valued at $2,000, was stolen Thursday, according to police reports.

All three were taken from the same front yard in the 8200 block of Arodene Road in Pikesville.

Landsman said the monkeys were part of a set—a hear-see-speak no evil set of three. On Tuesday afternoon, one of the monkeys, see no evil, was still in the yard.

The recovered statues have been returned to their owners, he said. Parts of them were broken.

A quick-thinking neighbor helped save the statues from certain extinction. The neighbor in the act of stealing the ballerina statue from his neighbor's yard on Thursday afternoon.

"I know they've ID'd the suspect, but I don't know yet if he's been charged," Landsman said Tuesday afternoon.

Landsman said the thief targeted the statues to sell them as scrap, and they were about to be melted down when Baltimore County police found them.

Another neighbor, Elise Saltzberg, said she heard about the crime, but is not concerned.

"This is a very safe neighborhood. ... I feel very safe here," she said.

Stay with Pikesville Patch for updates.