3 more New Jersey men arrested in bronze-horse heist

A horse is a horse, of course, but not when it weighs half a ton and is made of expensive bronze.

In fact, it was the bronze that led 33-year-old Audubon resident Ian MacDonald and three cohorts to heist one of a pair of horse-and-rider sculptures from the construction ground of the now-closed Garden State Park racetrack on July 14, authorities allege.

"There was a backhoe parked in the back of the site that workers used from time to time," said Cherry Hill Police Detective Sgt. Joseph W. Vitarelli Jr. "These people used the backhoe to first of all knock or crack the bronze statue off its base, which was concrete, then used the bucket of the backhoe to pummel the statue into pieces and load the pieces into a pickup truck."

"We are in possession of the 'Indian head' portion of the sculpture, after it was buried in an attempt to" hide it, Vitarelli said. "There may be other parts in other towns, and some parts may be intact in these other towns. Some parts were scrapped in Camden.

"It's of some value for the sculptor and [work-site] owner to have the pieces," Vitarelli said. "We can now see how certain people in society have no regard for anything except the dollar sign and decimal point."

The three additional suspects arrested yesterday were identified as Joseph Lesniak, 32, of Pennsauken; John Silcox III, 36, of Mount Ephraim; and Brian McMullen, 33, of Sicklerville. *