A man stole a rare, 213-year-old, 800-pound cannon from a Kansas park in early April, according to reports citing newly released court documents.
The theft of the decorative cannon occurred April 3, the Wichita Police Department (WPD) said. A few hours after the theft, the police found the cannon but it was already “significantly damaged,” the WPD added.
The police said they later arrested the suspect, a 37-year-old Wichita man, without incident. They also said they would book the suspect into the Sedgwick County Jail for “felony theft, vandalism, possession of methamphetamine and warrants.” (RELATED: Authorities Recover Stolen Revolutionary War Artifact ‘Hidden From Generations Of Americans’)
Gordon Pierce III, 38, was named the suspect, according to several outlets. Officers found on him a clear bag containing white crystalline substance that he said was methamphetamine, KAKE reported.
Pierce told investigators that he had been using meth for two decades and that his drug dealer gave him a pound of the drug but that he did not feel he could sell that amount, KSNW reported, citing a probable cause affidavit.
Pierce claimed that someone attacked him and stole the drug, and that the drug dealer found the report implausible and demanded $20,000 or “he would shoot him and his family,” the outlet reported.
He then began a search throughout Wichita for copper statues that he could steal to recoup the money, KAKE reported.
He allegedly settled on the cannon, a Spanish-American War memorial, April 2, and bartered meth and a pipe for a homeless man’s help with stealing the cannon, according to the outlet.
Both men struggled unsuccessfully to load the cannon onto Pierce’s truck, the outlet reported.
Pierce reportedly told investigators that he tried to tow the cannon with a chain but the chain broke several times. Pierce allegedly used another chain that he got from a friend to drag the cannon to the friend’s house, where he then cut up the cannon into four or five pieces using a special saw.
Leaving the largest piece in the friend’s garage, Pierce took the rest to his drug dealer as evidence of effort to repay the dealer, the outlet reported, citing the affidavit.
The drug dealer allegedly dubbed Pierce “stupid,” warning that Pierce would “bring heat to his house,” telling Pierce to “get out” and threatening to shoot Pierce in the head whenever he next saw him.
Pierce allegedly said the encounter left him feeling hopeless and drove him to his mother’s house to confess his deed.
Pierce also allegedly told officers that his only reason for choosing the cannon was that it was in a dark area, and that he had no specific plan to sell it as he did not have identification, which was required to sell scrap materials.
Made in Seville, Spain, in 1794, the cannon was seized in Cuba during the Spanish-American War in 1898 and gifted to Wichita by Mayor Finlay Ross in 1900, according to the City of Wichita’s website.
WPD described it as “a priceless fixture in our community.” Friends University History Professor Ken Spurgeon told KSNW that the cannon was extremely rare and irreplaceable.
The cannon is valued at over $100,000 and fixing the damage done to its pedestal could cost about $10,000, a maintenance supervisor for the City of Wichita Parks and Recreation told police, according to KAKE.
Pierce remains in jail on a $200,000 bond, the outlet reported.