Virgin Mary statue returned to Newport Beach church

The 4- to 5-foot figure was found in the yard of a Tustin woman after she called police this morning. The woman, returning from a weekend trip, found the statue on her lawn, and alerted police after reading a newspaper account of the theft. The statue went missing sometime between the evening of Nov. 14 to the morning of Nov. 15.

Newport Beach police returned the statue, worth an estimated $30,000, to the church apparently undamaged, authorities said. Detectives are still searching for suspects and investigating how the statue got to the Tustin home.

The statue was donated to the church about eight years ago, and sat atop a stone pedestal at the corner of Mar Vista and Domingo drives.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the Newport Beach Police Department at (800) 550-6273.

Rosenblatt is a Times staff writer.

susannah.rosenblatt@latimes.com