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    Fourth-Place Medal

    Man arrested for stealing, trying to pawn 1996 Olympic relay torch

    By Maggie Hendricks | Fourth-Place Medal – Wed, Jan 4, 2012 1:17 PM EST

    675684Over the course of an Olympic torch relay, several torches are given out to the hundreds of people who run the Olympic flame. For the 2012 Olympics, torch-bearers will take the flame through the entire United Kingdom before lighting the flame to open the Olympics. Unique torches are created to bear the flame for each Olympics, and are special tokens for the bearers.

    That makes them pretty recognizable, and not just something that can be pawned off at any shop, right? Someone tell that to Asheville, N.C.'s Brian Edward McDonald. He stole a torch from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics relay, and was charged with felony larceny and obtaining property by false pretense for stealing the torch from another man.

    The pawn shop got quite the deal. The torch is valued at $15,000, but it paid out just $200 to McDonald.

    I will admit that I'm not an expert on pawning stolen items, but did McDonald really think that no one would bat an eye at him trying to pawn something distinctive as an Olympic torch?

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    1 comment

    • A Yahoo! User  •  New York, New York  •  4 months ago
      It bothers me that media outlets did not do more research on the actual price of 1996 Olympic torches before running with this AP wire story. The torches are valued at $1,200 to $1,500, not the sentimental value of $15,000 reported.
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