Oscars Stolen?

tall, 8-pound naked gold guy? Well, at least the way it's being reported on the Internet, it seems that all 54 Oscar statuettes that were scheduled to be handed out at this month's Academy Awards ceremony have disappeared. Spokesman John Pavlik said the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences believes the Oscars "have been stolen." Pavlik declined to give other details but said the statuettes disappeared from Bell, a Los Angeles community about 15 miles from Beverly Hills.

According to a brief statement from the academy, the Oscars disappeared from a dock used by Roadway Express, the academy's regular delivery company. It wasn't exactly clear how many Oscars were taken. Pavlik said he believed all 54 that were to be handed out were missing, while Academy President Robert Rehme said "a crateful" was missing. Rehme told The Hollywood Reporter the uninscribed statuettes were being shipped from Chicago when they vanished.

"There were some Oscars that we had on a truck that are either missing or stolen," he said. "We don't know how, where or why. We never had them in our possession. It's been two days."

Earlier this month, sacks containing 4,000 ballots were misrouted after delivery to the Beverly Hills Post Office by an accounting firm. The Academy was forced to print and mail new ones.

This is how The Hollywood Reporter is reporting it -"'A crateful' of Oscar statuettes that were to be used at the Academy Awards ceremony on March 26 have been lost or stolen, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences confirmed late Thursday night. "There were some Oscars that we had on a truck that are either missing or stolen," Academy president Robert Rehme said. "We don't know how, where or why. We never had them in our possession. We expect them to be returned, but we're not sure. It's been two days," he said.

Rehme described the missing shipment as "a crateful." He said the Academy was using its regular transportation company, Roadway Express. The statues were being shipped from Chicago, where they are manufactured. The Oscar trophies had not yet been inscribed. The incident comes several weeks after eight sacks of Oscar ballots were delayed by a mail mix-up. The ballots were diverted by the U.S. Postal Service to an incorrect processing center. The voting deadline for the Academy Awards was extended by two days because of the widely publicized snafu. The Academy was to hold a news conference to explain the situation at 10 a.m. today.