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Monday, 20 March, 2000, 15:44 GMT
Oscars found in rubbish bin
Oscars
A big reward was offered for the Oscars' return
A shipment of Oscar statuettes stolen days before the awards ceremony has been found in a rubbish skip.

I picked one box up and busted it open - Oscar!

Willie Fullgear
Los Angeles police said the gold statuettes, which vanished last week en route from manufacturers, were recovered from a "dumpster" near the city centre.

They were apparently found by a man searching the skip for some cardboard boxes.

Willie Fullgear told CBS TV he found the Oscars still wrapped in plastic and in individual white boxes.

"I found a lot of white stuff out there which were a lot of Styrofoam boxes and I picked one up and busted it open - Oscar!" Mr Fullgear said.

It is not clear if all 55 statuettes intended for presentation at next Sunday's award show have been recovered, or if Mr Fullgear is eligible for a $50,000 reward.

FBI probe

The American Federal Bureau of Investigation was called in last week following the disappearance of the 55 statuettes.
Detective Robert Rivera and Oscar
Detective Robert Rivera loads Oscar into his patrol car
The gold statuettes went missing from a storage area in the city of Bell, south of Los Angeles, just nine days before the ceremony.

They were being shipped from Chicago to the organisers of the show - the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences - in Los Angeles when they disappeared.

Robert Rehme, president of the organisation, said he did not know whether the Oscars had been stolen or simply lost.

New consignment

A second consignment of Oscars was being prepared in Chicago and an Academy spokesman promised that the show would go on.
Oscar factfile
Made from alloy britannium
Plated in copper, nickel silver, then 24-karat gold
13.5 inches tall, weighs 8.5lbs
Designed by MGM's chief art director Cedric Gibbons
The statuette features a knight holding a crusader's sword, standing on a reel of film
But Academy executive, Bruce Davis, would not give an arrival date for the new consignment.

"We're going to be a little coy about that just in case there's an Oscar gang out there," he said.

The disappearance of the awards was the second hitch in the run-up to the Academy Awards.

Earlier this month, 4,000 ballots mailed to voters in the Los Angeles area failed to arrive, and new ballots had to be sent out.

 WATCH/LISTEN
 ON THIS STORY
News image The BBC's David Willis in Los Angeles reports
"It's being called the great Hollywood whodunnit"
News image The LAPD's Sgt. Jim Blum
"It's quite the mystery at this point"
News image The BBC's Francesca Kasteliz
"You couldn't have written a better film script"
See also:

14 Mar 00 | Entertainment
Oscar nominees out to lunch
15 Feb 00 | Entertainment
American Beauty leads Oscars field
23 Feb 00 | Entertainment
Dame Judi's Oscar night
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