No Arrest Yet: St. Anthony Relic Stolen, a Woman Sought

Updated about 6 p.m. Tuesday: Long Beach police Sgt. Rico Fernandez said there were no new developments to report on the case.

A religious relic 700 or 800 years old was stolen from St. Anthony's Catholic Church in downtown Long Beach Monday morning and police are looking for a woman who behaved suspiciously near it on Sunday.

Staff arriving at 6 a.m. Monday saw the relic  in its display area, Long Beach police said. At 9 a.m., the workers noticed that it was missing, and reported it to LBPD.

The item is brought out only once a year in honor of the church's namesake, Long Beach police announced.  A Latino woman of about 5-feet-3 is being sought as a person of interest, police said.

The relic in a Gothic style glass and gold display case was given to the Church-- when it was first established 110 years ago. In a release, Long Beach police spokeswoman Lisa Massaconi said that "witnesses noticed a person acting suspiciously in the church the day prior to the theft, and described her as a heavyset female Hispanic in her thirties, about 5’ to 5’3" with dark, wavy, unkempt hair."

Police said they would like to talk to her as what they call "a person of interest"  in this case. The relic is enclosed in a gold-plated casing, depicting the figure of Jesus Christ and measures approximately sixteen inches tall and ten inches wide at its widest point." LBPD asks anyone with information about this case to contact Burglary Detective Lorri Peck at (562) 570-5590. Anonymous tips may be sent via text or via the LBPD. website, www.longbeach.gov/police.

The estimated value of the item was not immediately known, something to which the thief might have have knowledge about.

City New Service and LBReport.com contributed to this report.