Local News in Brief : Kidnaped Bear Gets a Plainclothes Substitute
The uniformed teddy bear kidnaped from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Foothill Division more than a week ago is still missing, but a plainclothes replacement now hangs behind the front desk.
“I just came in and saw a little bear there,” Lt. Maurice Rubio said Sunday. “I don’t know who replaced it.”
The original teddy bear, which officers dubbed Billy Club Bear, was kidnaped by pranksters who later demanded $500 for its release. The ransom note was found on the front desk with a Polaroid picture of Billy, bound and blindfolded. A .38-caliber revolver was held to his head.
The pranksters remain at large.
The bear, which was dressed in a blue police uniform, had been a decoration on a Christmas wreath donated to the police station by a grateful citizen.
Rubio described the replacement as “just a little teddy bear, the kind you would buy in the store--un-uniformed.”
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