Art is meant to bring beauty to a community, but to a thief, it is just a pile of metal. A local masterpiece that took hundreds of hours to build was sold for pennies on the dollar, and now it is gone forever.

**WHAT HAPPENED

Oxnard police arrested Anita Hurtado, 45, for stealing a custom copper fountain from The Collection at RiverPark. Investigators say she didn't take the fountain all at once. Instead, she visited the site twice in February to take it apart.

She dismantled the metal work so it would be easier to carry away. By the time police caught her, the fountain had already been taken to a recycling center. Because it was sold for scrap, the metal was processed and destroyed.

Hurtado now faces felony charges for grand theft and possessing stolen property. The shopping center has lost a "one-of-a-kind" piece that can never be fully replaced.

WHAT THE EVIDENCE SHOWS

$35,000 was the estimated value of the handcrafted fountain.

• 2 separate dates in February were used to strip the metal.
• 100s of hours were spent by a local artist to create the piece.
• 1 recycling center bought the metal and destroyed the artwork.
• 45 years old is the age of the suspect, Anita Hurtado.

THE BIGGER QUESTION

How does a massive, $35,000 fountain get taken apart in a public shopping center without anyone stopping it? This story shows how bold thieves have become and how easily local history can be wiped out for a small amount of cash.

We also have to ask about the recycling centers that buy this metal. Should there be stricter rules for businesses that buy large amounts of copper without checking where it came from? If there is no place to sell stolen art, maybe people would stop stealing it.

**THE OTHER SIDE

Anita Hurtado will have a chance to tell her side in court. Her defense might argue that she was not the person seen taking the fountain or that she didn't know the metal was part of a valuable work of art.

However, because the fountain was "handcrafted" and clearly a decorative piece, the argument that she thought it was just trash or scrap metal is very weak. Taking it apart in two separate trips shows that there was a clear plan to steal it.

**WHAT HAPPENS NOW

Hurtado is facing serious prison time if convicted of these felonies. For the people who visit The Collection, a familiar piece of the landscape is now a blank space.

Local artists may now feel less safe putting their work in public places. This crime doesn't just hurt the owner of the fountain; it hurts the culture of the whole city.

**WHAT WE STILL DON'T KNOW

• How much money did the thief actually get for the scrap copper?
• Did security cameras catch the theft as it was happening in February?
• Will the artist be hired to create a new, more secure piece for the shopping center?