Stolen Olympic gold medal ends in arrest — but it’s still missing, California cops say

UPDATE: Police have recovered an Olympic gold medal that they said had been stolen from a volleyball player’s car in May in California.

The owners of Noel Barbershop “located a discarded plastic bag on their property” on Monday, June 27, according to a release from the Anaheim Police Department. When they looked more closely at the bag, they discovered the missing gold medal and contacted police.

The original story is below.

A California man has been arrested in the theft of an Olympian’s gold medal, and the volleyball player is offering a reward for its return, police said.

The 31-year-old man is accused of breaking into Olympian Jordyn Poulter’s car and stealing personal items, including her 2020 Tokyo Olympic gold medal, the Anaheim Police Department said in a statement.

The medal, though, is still missing, police said. Poulter, the starting setter for the 2020 U.S. Women’s Olympic volleyball team, is offering a $1,000 reward for its return.

Poulter had parked her car in a garage in Anaheim on Wednesday, May 25, the release said. When she returned, she noticed several things were missing, including her medal.

On Tuesday, June 7, the man, who has a lengthy criminal history, was charged with first-degree residential burglary, second-degree vehicle burglary, felony identity theft, and felony possession of narcotic, according to the news release.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Anaheim Police Department at 714-765-1900 or Orange County Crime Stoppers at 855-TIP-OCCS.

This story was originally published June 8, 2022 at 10:13 AM.

Daniella Segura

McClatchy DC

Daniella Segura is a national real-time reporter with McClatchy. Previously, she’s worked as a multimedia journalist for weekly and daily newspapers in the Los Angeles area. Her work has been recognized by the California News Publishers Association. She is also an alumnus of the University of Southern California and UC Berkeley.