Avid Fan Accused of Possessing Stolen Roy Rogers Memorabilia
WILBER, Neb. — A longtime fan of late cowboy film star Roy Rogers is accused of possessing stolen items from the Rogers family museum in California, including a red, white and blue pair of cowboy boots and a white Stetson hat.
Saline County authorities searched Scott Alan Stutesman’s home in this community on Tuesday and found the boots, the hat and other property believed to be stolen from the Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum in Victorville.
Stutesman, 41, was charged in Saline County Court with receiving stolen property worth more than $1,500. A preliminary hearing was set for April 10.
Saline County Sheriff Byron Buzek said authorities do not know how the items got to Nebraska from the California museum.
Roy Rogers Jr., the son of Roy Rogers, was in Wilber on Wednesday and identified numerous clothing items seized in the search and said they were the museum’s property, Buzek said.
Items found in Stutesman’s house included the white Stetson hat with the name “Roy Rogers” inside the hat band; a gray shirt with white fringe across the front, shoulders and arms; and the red, white and blue boots.
Roy Rogers’ grandson, Dustin Rogers, said authorities have been searching for several items stolen from the museum last year.
Stutesman, an avid collector of Roy Rogers memorabilia, met Rogers in the early 1990s, and claims the two became friends.
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