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The 3-foot statue was found in some bushes near the Burlington Gulf Station on Route 130 in Burlington City, NJ.

(Courtesy Burlington City Police)

TRENTON — A Pennsylvania man has owned up to leaving the rifle-toting statue at a Burlington City gas station and will not face any criminal charges, Burlington City police said late Monday.

Police Sgt. John Fine said the man, a 37-year-old from Langhorne, Pa., was guilty of "bad judgment."

The man went to police headquarters Monday and claimed responsibility for leaving the 3-foot statue at the corner of Route 130 South and High Street in bushes near the Burlington Gulf Station.

The statue was painted to look like a person in Middle Eastern dress holding an assault rifle, police had said.

In an interview, the man, who Fine said knows people in the Burlington City area, told detectives he found the statue in a wooded area and left it in the bushes at the intersection.

Detectives found he had no connection to the gas station and no intentions to negatively affect the operations of the business, Fine said.

Fine characterized the incident as a joke or prank, and investigators eventually cleared the man of wrongdoing and closed the case Monday afternoon. "There's no criminal liability that we see," Fine said.

Police were alerted to the statue's presence Saturday morning by a resident who contacted police after seeing a video of the statue that had circulated on Facebook. As of Monday morning, the video had about 15,000 views, Fine said.

Police spoke to the gas station owner, Gurmeet Singh, and station employees Saturday morning. None had any knowledge of the statue or how it got there.

Earlier Monday, Fine said, police were investigating because they wanted to find out if a crime had been committed, and, "We want the community to know that we stand with Mr. Singh and his business.''

Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njtimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @kevintshea. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.