The Department of Public Safety recovered two stolen lion statues Tuesday from Theta Xi fraternity, 315 Welch Ave. Theta Xi members Nick Johnson, senior in management information systems, and Quincy Jones, sophomore in construction engineering, have been arrested and charged recently for vandalizing the Christian Petersen “Ring of Life” sculpture inside MacKay Hall. Gene Deisinger, special operations captain, said DPS received information about the stolen statues late last week while investigating the theft and vandalism of the Petersen statue head. Officers investigated the report and verified the objects as those that had been stolen. Officers asked the members to return the cement lawn ornaments to the Armory Building about 6 p.m. Tuesday. “The fraternity president and members of the house that were contacted Tuesday night were very cooperative and assisted in returning the items to us,” he said. Theta Xi President Bill Ogier was unavailable for comment Wednesday night. Deisinger said officers returned the larger of the statues to its owners later that night, and the other was returned Wednesday. “It’s a very personal experience to have your property damaged, destroyed or stolen,” he said. The larger of the two lions was taken from a Hamilton County home in 1998, Deisinger said. The second lion was taken in March from an Ames residence. The two statues have a combined value of nearly $600. Jerry Stewart, assistant director of DPS, said the larger lion was about 3.5 feet tall and weighed 350 to 450 lbs. “I’d guess it took approximately six people to load it into a vehicle,” said Stewart, who estimated that the lion cost about $550. The smaller lion weighed about 50 lbs. and is valued at about $50. Deisinger said DPS was investigating whether the Petersen theft involved individuals or a group. “I don’t say that to single out that particular fraternity, but certainly both parties that we believed to be involved in the `Ring of Life’ vandalism and theft were members of that fraternity,” Deisinger said. “It was during the course of that investigation that the information came forward about these two other separate thefts.” No charges have been filed against the fraternity or its members for the lion thefts, Deisinger said. “At this time we’re not anticipating filing any charges,” he said. “The owners were primarily interested in the return of their property.” Brian Tenclinger, director of greek affairs, said he did not know the details of the case and declined to comment. Deisinger said he hopes students have learned a lesson from this situation. “I would hope that any student or member of the ISU community that would be considering doing these things would think twice about the impact,” Deisinger said. “While they might think of it as an innocent prank, it has a very real impact on the victim of the crime.”