Posted on 09/16/2010 11:45:13 AM PDT by a fool in paradise
If you hoped to get your hands on some of the garden gnomes at the City of Gillette auction on Thursday, you’re out of luck.
The little guys will be hanging around the Gillette Police Department a while longer.
More than 100 garden gnomes that were supposed to be sold at the city auction were pulled from the auction block after Gillette police got reports that the gnome nabbing may have been more expansive than just northeastern Wyoming.
Three teenage girls confessed to stealing 143 gnomes from lawns in Gillette and Campbell County in May after Sundance police caught them in the act with the gnomes.
More than 100 lawn ornaments were not claimed by their owners and so they were supposed to be auctioned Thursday along with other unneeded city property.
But that changed following a call from the Arvada, Colo., Police Department.
The City of Gillette received several inquiries after a News-Record article about the gnomes being sold at auction was picked up by newspapers across the country. Most were from gnome enthusiasts that wanted to bid on them because, evidently, gnomes are a hot item.
But one of those responses was from the Arvada Police Department in Colorado, which also had reports of gnomes going missing earlier this year.
“The suspects here had been in that area, so now they want to make sure we don’t have their property,” said Joe Lunne, city spokesman. “So for the moment, the gnomes are off the (auction) block.”
The Police Department will continue to hold the gnomes in evidence until it can be sorted out.
Photographs of the gnomes now will be sent to the Aurora Police Department for possible identification by owners in the Aurora area. It’s unclear whether the teenagers will face charges in Colorado, Gillette police Detective Becky Elger said.
So what is next for the homeless gnomes?
“I don’t think we have a plan at this moment,” Lunne said. “We are kind of in wait-and-see-mode to see how many, if any, are from Colorado.”
The city most likely will not have a special auction just for the gnomes later this year, Lunne said. Thursday’s auction is the second for the city this year and it usually only has one.
The decision on what to do with the gnomes will most likely be up to Noland Peacock, the Gillette Police Department’s evidence technician. He could decide to do something with the gnomes if he needs the room for evidence, but he also could decide to wait, Lunne said.
More than 100 lawn gnomes sit in the evidence room at the Police Department waiting for a city auction, where they will be sold, along with trucks, computers and even a front-end loader. But they are the most unique item at the auction, which is Thursday. - News-Record photo by Alton Strupp
Previously...
Gnomes need a home
http://gillettenewsrecord.com/articles/2010/09/07/news/today/news00.txt
By STEVE MCMANAMEN, News-Record Writer
Published: Tuesday, September 7, 2010 12:29 PM MDT
So the cops are keeping the gnomes so they can steal people’s underpants on their behalf ?
I read a horror story when I was a kid about garden gnomes coming to life. I still don’t like the little devils.
“So what is next for the homeless gnomes?”
Give them to gnomeless homes?
“Gnome mas!”
Give them to a gnomeless shelter
“Give them to a gnomeless shelter.”
Hahahaha ... you win ... gnome mas ...
I was wondering why we haven’t heard from Dennis Kucinich lately...
Give them to gnomeless homes?
Rollin’ with my gnomies...
Witha pocket full of shells...
Oh give me a home,
Where the garden gnomes roam.
Phase 3: Profit!
This could be an intergnational gnomeless problem.
Better call Ignterpol.
Or the U.gN.
o/~ Gnobody gnomes the troubles I’ve seen... o/~
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