Marshal Spots It Out Yonder--in Weed Patch : Purloined Stagecoach Back Home

A stagecoach that was stolen off the roof of a Sherman Oaks antique store three months ago has been found and returned to its perch, but the outlaws who made off with it are nowhere to be found.

“We got it back, and that’s all we really care about,” said Skip Petersen, owner of Sherman Oaks Antique Mart, where the stagecoach served as a distinguishing landmark for more than a year. “The guys who took it have made tracks, vamoosed, but that’s OK with me.”

The stagecoach, a scaled-down, two-thirds size facsimile of a Wells Fargo Bank original, was found through a stroke of luck two weeks ago when a Los Angeles County deputy marshal was serving an eviction notice at an apartment less than a mile from the antique store, Los Angeles Police Detective Dan Moran said.

Deputy Marshal Pat Warford, who knew the coach was missing because she is a regular customer at the antique store, spotted it among weeds in the backyard of an apartment in the 14900 block of Dickens Street.

‘Dabbles in Antiques’

“She knew right away what we’d come across because she dabbles in antiques,” said Deputy Marshal Mike Lehr, who was with Warford at the time.

The residents of the apartment were not at home but were later questioned by police. They said they did not know how the stagecoach wound up in their backyard, Moran said.

The investigation is continuing, he said.

Police speculate that the stagecoach, valued at about $1,500, was lowered with ropes from the roof of the store on Ventura Boulevard and whisked away in a truck or van.

For her keen eye, Warford received a $100 reward--in the form of a gift certificate--from the antique store.