Second Suspect Arrested For Stealing Arboretum Gates

SEATTLE, WA — Police have arrested the second of two suspects who, they say stole the Tsutakawa Memorial Gates from the Washington Park Arboretum.

The 20-foot bronze ornamental gates were designed by sculptor George Tsutakawa and had been in front of the arboretum's visitor center since 1976. That is until March 19, when staff at the arboretum came in to work and noticed the gates had been stolen in the middle of the night. Shortly after they also noticed that several copper fixtures from around the building were also missing.

SPD says a detective assigned to the case quickly discovered that two men had tried to sell the gate as scrap brass at a recycling business in downtown, but the business refused to buy the gate.

After interviewing the recyclers, detectives tracked down the first of two suspects on March 27. They say the first suspect told them were the gates were being stored. When officers tracked the gates down, they found that one had already been destroyed, cut apart to be used for scrap. The second gate is reportedly mostly unharmed.

Weeks later on April 13, police say an officer in the South Precinct was patrolling near the intersection of 1st Avenue South and South Orcas Street when he recognized a man matching the description of the second suspect. After tracking the man to a nearby parked RV, officers booked the 47-year-old suspect into the King County Jail for investigation of theft.