Odd Case of Stolen Alabama Monument Leads to NOLA

Group had reportedly threatened to turn the Jefferson Davis Memorial Chair into a toilet
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 10, 2021 8:34 AM CDT
Odd Case of Stolen Alabama Monument Leads to NOLA
Jefferson Davis never sat in the chair, which Ladies of Selma presented in his honor some two decades after he was last in Selma.   (Wikimedia Commons)

New Orleans Police followed up on a tip and say they ended up arresting two people in connection with the missing Jefferson Davis Memorial Chair, a 3-foot-tall stone monument worth $500,000 that had been kept in Selma, Alabama's Old Live Oak Cemetery. According to Selma police, it was stolen after midnight on March 19, and reports emerged earlier this week that a group called White Lies Matter had threatened to turn it into a toilet unless the United Daughters of the Confederacy complied with its demand to hang a banner of White Lies Matter's design outside its Richmond, Va., headquarters for 24 hours beginning at 1pm Friday. Alabama's Dallas County Sheriff’s Office reportedly asked the NOPD for assistance on Tuesday, reports AL.com.

Stanley Warnick, 32, and Kathryn Diionno, 24, were arrested Thursday for the theft of the chair and face charges for possession of stolen property. Lawyers for the two said they have no connections with White Lies Matter or any other activist groups, CNN reports. "They are small business owners and community members," said their lawyers. NOLA.com reports the two are said to be tattoo shop owners. Their lawyers continued, "They are, if anything, themselves victims of mistakes of fact that have led to this unfortunate situation. They look forward to clearing their names." The NOPD says they are seeking one more person, 34-year-old Stanley Pate, in connection with the crime and confirmed the chair is now in the possession of the Alabama chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. (More Jefferson Davis stories.)

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