A Glendale man who was convicted of destroying President Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame last year and who pleaded no contest to stealing a statue of Marilyn Monroe from a city-owned gazebo, has been sentenced to a year in jail.
Austin Mikel Clay, 25, was also ordered to pay $14,260 in restitution and will be placed on three years of formal probation.
Clay was already on probation after a conviction for taking a pickaxe to Trump’s star on July 25, 2018. He turned himself in the next day.
The Marilyn Monroe statue that depicts the actress in an iconic pose from the 1955 film “The Seven Year Itch” was stolen on June 16,2019 from the Four Ladies of Hollywood gazebo at Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue.
The gazebo features large statues paying tribute to legendary screen actresses, including Mae West and Dorothy Dandridge. A small statue of Monroe was on top of the gazebo.
It captured the actress in an iconic pose from one of her best-known films, “The Seven Year Itch.” In the scene, her white dress billows as she stands over a subway grate.
Prosecutors say Clay climbed up the sculpture and sawed off the statue at the top. The city of Los Angeles owns the property and artwork.
Clay was arrested on June 21.
Police initially said they had obtained surveillance images and fingerprints from the scene. They had described four suspects – three men and a woman. It was not immediately clear if those other individuals have been identified or arrested.