Clair the dinosaur statue was returned to a Los Angeles Sinclair gas station with an apology note.
The note left with the returned dinosaur statue read, 'I’m sorry for stealing Claire. Please do not press charges. Thanks!!'
Clair the dinosaur was stolen from a Sinclair gas station in Los Angeles. The thief was seen returning the statue a few days later.

A glass statue of a dinosaur, which had been stolen from a gas station in Los Angeles, was returned with an apology note and an appeal a few days after being taken.

Clair, a four-foot-tall fiberglass statue, was stolen from a Sinclair gas station on San Vicente Boulevard in the city's Brentwood neighborhood during the early hours of Saturday, Sept. 27, gas station owner John Fawcett told Storyful.

Video footage from the dino-napping shows a masked man walking up to the 50-pound statue and covering it with a sheet before loading it into the back of a white pickup truck.

The incident caught local and national attention, with celebrities even weighing in and demanding Clair's safe return.

Fawcett told LAist they had "people come in and cry that Clair is missing."

"We’ve had people bring flowers," the gas station owner told LAist.

'Not cool'

Actor Jamie Lee Curtis also shared footage of the theft on Instagram and called out the thief for their act.

“REALLY! Hey, you with your fancy truck, really?" Curtis wrote alongside a video of the robbery. "You need to steal the dinosaur from in front of the Sinclair gas station? Really? Not cool dude. Not cool!"

'Please do not press charges'

Following all the outcry, the statue was returned to the gas station with an apology note in the early hours of Monday, Oct. 5, Fawcett told Storyful. Security camera footage shows a man returning with the dinosaur in what appears to be the same white pickup truck and placing the statue wrapped in a white cloth on its platform before driving away.

"I’m sorry for stealing Claire. Please do not press charges. Thanks!!" the apology note said, according to Fawcett.

While the owners filed a police report, they told LAist they don't plan to press charges. It is also not yet known if the dinosaur incurred any damage, and the owners told the outlet that they will assess the statue later. No arrests have been made so far in connection with the incident, NBC News reported. USA TODAY contacted the Los Angeles Police Department for more information on Tuesday, Oct. 7, but has not received a response.

Dinosaurs have been an integral part of Sinclair’s advertising since the 1930s. While the company initially rolled out the original campaign with a dozen different dinosaurs, "it was the gentle giant, the Apatosaurus, that captured the hearts of Americans," Sinclair says on its website.

Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Watch stolen dinosaur statue be returned to Los Angeles gas station with apology note

Reporting by Saman Shafiq, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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