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VIDEO: 'Hipsters' Steal Jesus Statue From Williamsburg Church

 Police are looking for two women and a man were caught on surveillance video stealing a statue of Jesus from Saints Peter and Paul Church in Williamsburg.
Police are looking for two women and a man were caught on surveillance video stealing a statue of Jesus from Saints Peter and Paul Church in Williamsburg.
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DCPI

BROOKLYN — Two women and a man were caught on surveillance video stealing a statue of Jesus from Saints Peter and Paul Church in Williamsburg last weekend, according to a representative.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus statue was taken from outside the church's rectory at 82 S. Second St. at 2:12 a.m. Saturday night, church spokeswoman Carolyn Erstad said.

Surveillance video shows the three suspects leaning over a fence to lift the statue off its base and then run off with it.

The church reported the theft to the NYPD, which is actively looking for suspects, Erstad told DNAinfo New York. 

Maria Bendita Diez, a 29-year-old nun who lives in the church's convent, said that the rectory's secretary noticed the statue was missing when she returned from a trip to Puerto Rico. An NYPD spokeswoman said that a police report was filed on May 2 and there is an open investigation.

After seeing the video, Diez said that the people who stole statue didn't appear needy. 

"They seem to be hipsters in their 30s," she said in Spanish.

In 2012, DNAinfo reported on the theft of a similar statue from the church. The statue taken Saturday, which is 100 years old, was donated by a New Jersey family to replace it, Diez said.

"Please return it," said Diez in a message to the thieves. "[The statue] means a lot to us here at the church."