Olympic silver medal stolen from U.S. water polo player
Merrill Moses may have won silver as the goalkeeper for the U.S. men's water polo team, but he has no medal to show for it after thieves broke into his parents' California home. Moses and his parents were in Jamaica celebrating his engagement, and while they were there, his medal, a ring and watch from the U.S. Olympic Committee and several other items were stolen. From Recordnet.com:
"It was really a pretty glorious event before I heard about my house being robbed," Marlene Moses [Merrill's mother] said. "They took an enormous amount of stuff, but I'm focusing on the watch, the ring and that medal, because it can't be replaced."
The stupidity of a criminal is rarely in doubt, but these ones just may take the cake. They stole a rare, easily identifiable item. As seen in the picture, the medal is silver, hangs from a red ribbon and has a circle of jade on one side. They also made several trips between the Moses house and their van, and were scared away by a neighbor opening their garage door.
Moses and his teammates won the silver after losing to Hungary in the gold-medal final in Beijing. He was named to the Olympic All-Star team, and was on the U.S. team that took fourth at the FINA World Cup in July.
