Bartlesville T-Rex Statue Theft Leads To Tulsa Man's Arrest

Bartlesville Police arrested a Tulsa man for stealing a 9-foot dinosaur statue that was a landmark at a pet store.

Monday, May 4th 2015, 4:13 pm

By: Richard Clark

Bartlesville T-Rex Statue Theft Leads To Tulsa Man's Arrest

Bartlesville Police arrested a Tulsa man for stealing a 9-foot fiberglass dinosaur statue that was a landmark at a pet store.

Police booked Christopher Roman Ysbrand, 27, into the Washington County Jail on one felony count of grand larceny.

The dinosaur stood outside Classic Pets for nine years. He was very popular as a backdrop for family photos because he often wore interesting costumes.

That changed when a thief cut him off his pedestal and hauled him away on January 25, 2015.

Parts of the dinosaur were found a few days later in a dumpster in Tulsa.

According to an affidavit filed in the case, surveillance video from the QuikTrip across the street from the pet store recorded a male and female loading the dinosaur statue into the back of a black, extended cab pickup at 10 o'clock on that Sunday morning.

A witness later reported seeing the dinosaur in the truck and writing down the tag number because it looked suspicious. Police said the address linked to that tag number was out of date, but they found a forwarding address.

A few days later, all the parts of the dinosaur except for the head were found in a dumpster behind a grocery store in Tulsa.

The affidavit says the forwarding address for Ysbrand was two blocks from the dumpster.

The affidavit says Ysbrand told police he put all the parts of the dinosaur, including the head, into the dumpster.

Someone turned in the head to police after seeing news coverage about the theft.

Kathy Keim, the owner of Classic Pets, said she has all the pieces but the dinosaur has not been reassembled. Keim told News On 6 she's been advised the statue was too damaged to repair.