Stolen Applegate Zoo bear sign recovered by Merced PD. How did they find it?
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- Merced Police recovered a stolen Applegate Zoo sign during a July 25 raid.
- Department withheld recovery details from city officials for nearly one week.
- Officers honored with Commander Coins; felony warrant issued for suspect.
Merced Police Chief Steven Stanfield announced the local police department withheld information from local leadership at the city’s Aug. 4 city council meeting.
“I’m here today to confess I’ve been keeping a secret from all of you, and I feel bad about it, but I’ll get over it real quickly,” the chief told the city council.
For the previous week, the Merced Police Department has kept it under wraps that the Applegate Zoo Bear signage, which was stolen on Feb. 16, was recovered through “good old fashioned detective work.”
The missing bear that was recovered through a search warrant last week wasn’t hibernating. The zoo sign was “proudly” hanging on a suspect’s wall, the chief told the city council.
The signage was recovered in excellent shape, Stanfield said.
The bear will return to Applegate Zoo, where it will reside in either the gift shop or at the bear exhibit, Mayor Matthew Serratto told the Merced Sun-Star.
Detective Sergeant Christian Lupian detailed how the local police department recovered the sign after a months-long investigation.
“We started to gather any and all video surveillance footage from the area,” he said. “We were able to capture an individual in the area of interest.”
Soon after, leads started to fall off, Lupian said. Then, on July 25 Merced Police Department was able to write a warrant based on information from a confidential informant.
“We found the bear actually hanging in someone’s living room as a decorative piece,” Lupian said. “It’s a pretty noticeable piece.”
The detectives also recovered an additional, large “Welcome to Merced” sign, Lupian said.r
Currently, no arrests have been made. However, a felony warrant for possession of stolen property has been issued for a 32-year-old male.
Lupian said he’s unsure if the individual in possession of the sign was the one who stole it from Applegate Zoo in February. Detectives and officers that worked the case were given Commander Coins in honor of the detective work.
For Lupian, a lifelong Merced resident, he is happy to be recognized along with the other detectives on the case.
As a lifelong resident, the case became personal for Lupian, who can recall going to the zoo as a young child fondly.
“For us to even have a zoo in a small city like this, it’s important,” he said. “And yeah, it’s personal for me because … I want to see the kids that live in the community to also have those same good memories that I had when I was a kid.”
This story was originally published August 5, 2025 at 3:29 PM.
