Cops: Baby Jesus ‘thief’ left statue in hospital safe space
BETHLEHEM (AP) – A woman charged with stealing a baby Jesus statue from a Nativity scene in Bethlehem, Pa., told police it was a joke when she left the $2,700 figurine at a hospital explaining it has been “neglected” by its parents, “Joseph and Mary Christ.”
Bethlehem police aren’t laughing, however, and have jailed 49-year-old Jacqueline Ross on charges of theft and institutional vandalism. She doesn’t have an attorney.
Police ID’d Ross from surveillance video and found her at a hospital Thursday night.
But police say she also visited the same hospital minutes after the stealing the statue from Payrow Plaza about 2 a.m. Dec. 4.
Police say she left a note with the porcelain “baby” that read in part, “Child has broken right foot which is been neglected. Parents Joseph and Mary Christ got a warning.”