Police Thwart Baby Jesus Burning Party [View All]

[matcom]

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Detectives investigating the theft of a baby Jesus statue from an outdoor Nativity scene at a Sayreville church followed a trail yesterday that led them to the missing statue -- and 26 other baby Jesus figurines.

Police said they assumed all 27 statues had been stolen, although they did not know from where.

Police spread the figurines out on a counter at police headquarters to take inventory. All lay, in swaddling clothes, on their backs.

"It looks like a nursery here," said Sayreville police spokesman Ken Kelly.

The figurines, most of them plastic, were found stashed "in plain view" in a car parked outside the home of Christopher Olson, 18, of Old Bridge, Sayreville police said.

Detectives canvassing the church neighborhood the previous day had been given a description of a "suspicious" car by residents, police said.

Authorities jailed Olson and two other men -- Michael Payne, 19, of Old Bridge, and Nicholas Hess, 18, of Matawan -- in connection with the theft of the Nativity infant from St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, and the desecration of objects at the church's cemetery. A 15-year-old boy was also taken into custody last night.

Payne's truck contained several items from the church cemetery, police said.

"It was supposed to be some kind of Jesus burning party. I guess they were going to burn everything up," Kelly said, adding that the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office would determine whether the incident constituted a bias crime.

"There was nothing sprayed or written. Is it a crime against Christians? I don't know. We'll be looking at that," Kelly said.

"It looks like a nursery here," said Sayreville police spokesman Ken Kelly.

The figurines, most of them plastic, were found stashed "in plain view" in a car parked outside the home of Christopher Olson, 18, of Old Bridge, Sayreville police said.

Detectives canvassing the church neighborhood the previous day had been given a description of a "suspicious" car by residents, police said.

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"It was supposed to be some kind of Jesus burning party. I guess they were going to burn everything up," Kelly said, adding that the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office would determine whether the incident constituted a bias crime.

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