Terry Bryant, 47, was arrested for felony theft after he allegedly took the award at the Governors Ball.
The man accused of trying to steal Frances McDormand’s best actress Oscar statue on Sunday night has been arrested.
The incident occurred around 11 p.m., when Terry Bryant, 47, was arrested on suspicion of felony theft after he allegedly took the statue at the Governors Ball, Los Angeles police spokeswoman Rosario Herrera told The Hollywood Reporter.
A photographer at the party confronted Bryant and got the Oscar back after he noticed the man acting suspicious, police said. Not long after, security got involved and Bryant was taken in to custody. He did have a ticket to the Governors Ball, police said.
According to a source close to the situation, Fox Searchlight publicist Barry Dale Johnson was handed McDormand’s statue for safe keeping. By that point, the actress had already exited the Governors Ball, heading for Vanity Fair’s Oscar party in Beverly Hills along with husband Joel Coen and their son.
They arrived there around 11:30 p.m., where she made the rounds and posted up outside on the terrace for tequila and cigarettes. The source continued that Johnson was seen arriving at Vanity Fair around midnight to hand deliver the Oscar to McDormand. Once receiving it, McDormand hugged Johnson, which was witnessed by several attendees. However, she didn’t hold on to it for long, passing it off to Coen for safe keeping for the rest of the evening.
Bryant was arrested by the LAPD Hollywood division and remains in jail on $20,000 bail, according to records.
McDormand won the Oscar for her portrayal of Mildred Hayes in the Fox Searchlight drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
The annual star-studded Governors Ball inside the Ray Dolby Ballroom is the official afterparty for the 90th Academy Awards ceremony, where moguls mingle with Oscar winners, press members and the industry elite.
Following the Governors Ball, the best actress Oscar winner may have put her new trophy away for safekeeping as she made the rounds on the party circuit. THR spotted McDormand at the Vanity Fair Oscar party shortly after 11:30 p.m. on the terrace outside of the Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts in Beverly Hills. McDormand, accompanied by husband Joel Coen and her son, did not have her Oscar with her as she weaved her way through the party en route to the bar where she was seen ordering a tequila and smoking a cigarette.
A rep for the actress did not immediately return a request for comment.
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