Police "quickly located" a missing dinosaur, but this isn't a scene out of Jurassic Park. Authorities in San Joaquin County, California, arrested someone who allegedly stole a dinosaur statue from a Sinclair gas station in Stockton last month.
Videos by Wide Open Country
The Dinosaur Went Missing Late Last Month
As reported by PEOPLE, the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office announced the recovery of the missing dinosaur on social media on Nov. 9. Deputies couldn't resist posing with the statue of the prehistoric creature.
In the humorous
post, it said that investigators received a call on Oct. 27 regarding a dinosaur that "had gone missing in San Joaquin County.""Deputies promptly responded and quickly determined this was no ordinary missing-person case," the post read.
The green dinosaur statues are typically found outside Sinclair gas stations across the nation. They stand about 4 feet tall and 8 feet long.
After the suspect was arrested, it was revealed that the dinosaur had been purchased by an unsuspecting buyer "who apparently believed he had stumbled upon a genuine piece of history in the present day."
"Deputies followed the investigative leads to the dinosaur's last known location in the City of Stockton, where they located the missing creature in distress, with a bag over its head," the post added. "Without hesitation, a deputy came to the dinosaur's rescue and freed it from its unfortunate predicament by removing the bag."
The Case Is Now "Extinct"
The post added that the deputy took the dinosaur back to its "rightful habitat" with help from volunteers.
"This theft of a prehistoric creature did not become unsolved history," the post read. "The dinosaur is safely back where it belongs, and another case has officially gone extinct."
The post concluded with some advice from the sheriff's department. It read, "As always, if you see something, say something. Even if it's a dinosaur!"
