UPDATED: Man Takes $500 Dragon Statue From Front Of Hoboken Store

HOBOKEN, NJ — Roger Muller Jr. of the century-old Muller Insurance agency, located on Hoboken's Washington Street, has seen a lot on the security camera facing the main drag. But a four-minute video he captured on Friday stands out. On the video, a man appears to take a long time to examine, circle, and then swipe a dragon statue that Muller recently purchased for $500. (See the full video below.)

(MONDAY NIGHT UPDATE: Roger Muller reported that the dragon is home! He said that a police detective figured out who the person was who took the dragon, and had it returned. "The horns and ear was chipped off, but the dragon thanked Mike and the Hoboken Police Department for a job well done!" Muller wrote. "That was fast and I did not even report it! Social media is amazing when you have 5,000 friends online!")

As depicted in the video, the 6:15 a.m. heist proceeds even as a police car rolls nearby, stops at the traffic light, then heads away, officers apparently oblivious. The man starts walking toward the police car, also oblivious.

Muller wrote in a Facebook post on Friday evening, "I try to keep a really nice garden in front of Muller Insurance for years! Last week our giant tree got cut down and this week an [expletive] went and stepped in the garden and walked away with a $500 dragon statute that the kids walking by love!"

Muller told Patch he bought the statue just a few months ago at Metropolitan Plant in Fort Lee. He said he planned to file a police report some time Monday.

He explained that he was recovering from an operation last week, so he decided to spend a little time Friday watching the security video to figure out exactly how the statue had disappeared. "It was pretty heavy, too," he said.

Commenters on the video were unforgiving. Some said the apparent dragonnapper should be punished, while others remarked on his fashion sense.

"Basically we’re looking for Elvis Costello wearing his big brother's jeans, mandals, pushing his mom's flowered cart," noted one.

A member of the Muller family replied, "Poor thing. If he would have walked in and asked for the dragon I think I would have given it to him."

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A few people had creative suggestions for how to prevent other thefts, such as hiding a beehive under the statue.

The heist appeared unrelated to a recent theft of a cow bench ("cow-ch") outside the Ben & Jerry's four blocks away last year. Read More: Big Cow Is Home And Hiding After Theft.

UPDATE: See update after video!

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