Arrest warrant issued for man in theft of Alabama Confederate monument

Alabama police have issued an arrest warrant for a man accused of stealing a Confederate monument last month.

Selma police have charged Jason Warnick for the theft of the Jefferson Davis Memorial Chair that was stolen from a Selma cemetery in April, Dallas County District Attorney Michael Jackson said, according to The Associated Press.

The monument was found in Warnick’s tattoo shop in New Orleans, and Warnick was already being charged with stolen property.

Previously, Stanley Warnick and Kathryn Diionno were arrested in connection to the theft.

“This knowledge is very new, but we are in contact with the Selma Police Department and will be making plans over the next few days,” Michael Kennedy, the attorney for Jason Warnick, said. 

“That being said, Mr. Warnick categorically denies any involvement with the theft of this memorial art installation and intends to defend himself and his reputation vigorously,” Kennedy added.

After the chair was stolen, a group called White Lies Matter emailed news organizations taking credit for the theft. 

The group claimed it was not going to give the monument back unless the United Daughters of the Confederacy hung a banner with a quote from a Black Liberation Army activist outside its headquarters. The activist is wanted for a 1973 murder of a New Jersey state trooper.

White Lies Matter threatened to turn the $500,000 monument “into a toilet.” The chair was found in New Orleans before that happened.