GREEN BAY - The mother of a Green Bay man who stole a cardboard cutout of the police chief gave officers the clue they needed to crack the case.

For the last year, life-size cutouts of the Green Bay police chief Andrew Smith have popped up in stores around the city warning people not to shoplift.

One was stolen from the Kwik Trip at 1712 E. Mason St. on Dec. 16.

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Officers were able to identify the suspected thief, Anthony F. Novello, 27, based on a clear picture of the getaway car's license plate from Kwik Trip surveillance video, a police report states.

The surveillance video shows Novello inside the store buying beverages and paying in cash. As he turned to leave, he picked up the cutout and walked out the front door, the documents state.

He placed the chief's cutout in the back of his car and drove away.

When police officers Sheila Sleeter and Alex Carlson went to the Victoria Street address where the car is registered, Novello's mother told them he lived on Lime Kiln Road. She did not know the address.

She told officers either she or Novello would call them later in the evening.

Officers found the car at an apartment building in the 1000 block of Lime Kiln and eventually were able to speak to Novello through a window. He told officers he would not open the door unless they had a warrant.

Police documents state the apartment manager offered to help and was eventually able to recover the cutout, but it "was in several pieces and severely damaged."

The head was not among the parts recovered.

Officers mailed Novello citations for theft of movable property and criminal damage to property.