A bronze sculpture of a bull’s head worth $25,000 that was stolen from a Georgetown house has been returned, according the Metropolitan Police Department.
Sergeant Hackley, an officer in MPD’s second District, which includes Georgetown, said the sculpture was stolen by a group of twelve to fifteen people from Halcyon House, a home on the 3400 block of Prospect St. The crime occurred early on the morning of Sunday, September 21, according to a public safety alert emailed to students by Georgetown’s Department of Public Safety.
The head was returned anonymously, according to Director of Public Safety Jeffrey Van Slyke. He said DPS had no role in the investigation beyond a public safety alert sent to students.
“It’d probably be some prank,” said Detective Thomas Rossenborg, a detective in the MPD’s second District. Rossenborg added that art crime is rare in Washington, as most burglaries target small items that are easy to pawn, like DVDs and laptops.
Detective Vernon Jones, the MPD officer assigned to the case, declined to comment.
Bill Starrels, the Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner for Halcyon House’s district, said he contacted Ray Danieli, Georgetown’s Assistant Director for Student Affairs, because he thought students were responsible for the theft.
“That was the guess,” he said. There was another break-in at Halcyon House about a month ago, according to Starrels.
Danieli said that University officials and the Department of Public Safety made themselves available to MPD’s investigation, but he would not say whether the thieves attended Georgetown.
“This is basically a police matter between the police and John Dreyfuss,” he said.
Dreyfuss, a sculptor who lives in and owns the Halcyon House, did not respond to requests for comment. His neighbor and friend Clarke Thomas, however, said the theft worried Dreyfuss and other residents on the street.
“It was very upsetting to John,” he said.
