It didn’t take long for Orange residents to help replace the statue of baby Jesus stolen a week before from the Nativity scene in Plaza Park – or for the thief to replace the original statue.

An Orange police officer found the original statue – and three other depictions of the infant Christ – in the manger on Christmas morning, said Mayor Carolyn Cavecche, who recovered the original statue and other images Tuesday from the Police Department.

“An officer on patrol saw the (original) baby Jesus in the manger on Christmas and saw it was not bolted down,” Cavecche said. “He was concerned about it being taken again, so the officer collected all the Jesuses and took them to the station.”

Because of short staffing during the holiday weekend, Cavecche was not notified until Tuesday, so the Jesus figures spent the remainder of Christmas and the rest of the weekend at police headquarters.

“I appreciate the fact that it was kept safe,” Cavecche said. “I’m very grateful to whoever returned it.”

Cavecche, who for more than 10 years has been part of the community group that sets up the scene depicting Christ’s birth, reported the 10-pound statue of the newborn Christ missing Dec. 16.

The surrounding community responded by donating money and other baby Jesus figures. Realtor Dan Slater, one of the original volunteers to set up and take down the Nativity scene in 1990, said he has collected more than $800 from residents of Orange, Santa Ana, Cypress and Anaheim.

Resident Darryl Owens said he and his wife, Mercedes, donated their Jesus from in front of their home and Councilman Denis Bilodeau bought a Jesus and placed it in the manger.

After the Jesus figures were collected on Christmas morning, an anonymous person brought the Christ figure that is  in the manger now. The Nativity scene, in the park inside the traffic circle, consisted of a manger with statues of Mary and Joseph near the baby. Outside the manger are three wise men, a shepherd and two sheep.

“We had a member of the City Council and members of the community donate,” Cavecche said. “The city of Orange is a very special community.”

Slater said the money will go toward replacing a wise man damaged a couple of years ago when the wind knocked it over.

“We’ll keep the rest in the fund,” Slater said. “We were down to just about $30 before this.”

Slater said anyone who donated a Jesus and wants it returned can get it at the Orange Realty office, 1537 E. Chapman Ave.

“Otherwise, we’ll keep them as replacements,” Slater said.

Slater said he was grateful but not surprised by the outpouring of community and civic support. When the Nativity scene was destroyed by a drunken driver three years ago, Slater said Councilman Jon Dumitru’s grandmother donated most of the money to have the scene replaced.

“Orange is a very community-minded, church-going city,” Slater said.

Cavecche said the replacement baby Jesus now in the Nativity scene will remain until the scene is taken down in the first part of the new year. A menorah was up during Hanukkah.

Follow the Orange City Watch blog on Twitter at http://twitter.com/orangecitywatch.

More West Orange stories:

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.