Students arrested for stealing Ronald McDonald

Four students from Olivet Nazarene University have been arrested for felony theft in connection with a missing Ronald McDonald statue in Bradley, Illinois.

The $7,500 life-size statue of the iconic clown was found in an ONU dormitory room on Tuesday after police identified the suspects using video surveillance. "The Hamburglar was not a suspect, as much as everyone thought he was," said Brandon Jensen, Bradley police detective, who investigated the case.
Arrested were Wyatt C. Petty, 18, of LaGrange, Ind.; Cody J. Shively, 19, Mishawaka, Ind.; John R. Witts, 18, Ft. Worth, Tx.; and Savannah F. Baldauf, 18, Seneca, Ill. All four were charged with felony theft. Baldauf drove up to the drive through and ordered food at 10:49 on Friday, Oct. 16 while the three boys ripped the statue from the ground and hid it in a nearby bush, Jensen said.

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They ordered eight cheeseburgers and one ice cream cone, completing the transaction at the window. The three men later returned to retrieve the statue. The suspects were found when a Bourbonnais patrolman identified the suspect's car on ONUs campus. "People might think they were stealing from a big corporation, but the bottom line it comes out of the franchise owner," Jensen said. "This is a business owner in our community, and it's still felony theft."