ELMIRA (AP) A 33-year-old man has been sentenced to six months in jail followed by five years on probation for stealing a bronze likeness of author Mark Twain from a cemetery in Elmira.
Chemung County Court Judge Richard Rich also ordered Daniel Ruland of Elmira to pay $1,575 in restitution. The sentence Friday was the result of a plea agreement.
Police say they don't know why Ruland pried the 17-by-17-inch plaque from a granite monument at Twain's gravesite. It was reported missing Jan. 2 and recovered on Feb. 6 with minor damage to an edge.
Twain, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, grew up in Hannibal, Missouri. He summered for 20 years at Quarry Farm in Elmira and is buried in the family plot of his wife, Olivia Langdon.
