Police have arrested a man in connection with the theft of a sidewalk café railing and a Buddha statue from the Mai Thai restaurant in downtown Boise.
Investigators used surveillance video from the restaurant’s outside camera to help identify the suspect. Officers arrested Justin Morrow, 26, of Boise on Tuesday. He was booked into the Ada County Jail.
The theft occurred about 7 a.m. Saturday.
In the video, two people are seen walking along a sidewalk, approaching the restaurant in the 700 block of West Idaho Street. A man wearing a dark-colored T-shirt with the word “Spicy!” on it pauses and appears to check how secure a section of the railing is. When one section breaks free, the man takes off running with it. The other person follows him. Both then disappear from the camera’s view.
Restaurant owner Glen Robell says some sections of the railing, including the one stolen, have nine-inch tall Buddha statues attached. He said the section of railing and the statue are valued at about $500.
The railing was only temporally attached, because such railings are not allowed to be permanently affixed to city sidewalks, he explained.
“(Morrow) initially gave officers false information about his identity. Officers were able to confirm his real identity and, after working with prosecutors, charged him with felony grand theft, malicious injury to property, and misdemeanor false information provided to an officer,” said Boise Police Department spokeswoman Haley Williams.
Additional charges against the young woman who was seen on the surveillance video accompanying Morrow during the theft are possible, Williams said, but the filing of any charges will be determined by the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office.
