Stolen Dennis the Menace statue found in…Florida?!

Hank Ketchem's Dennis the Menace character was known for doing irascible and unpredictable things. 

But he would've been hard-pressed to pull off a stunt like this.

Somebody stole the 3-and-a-half-feet-tall Dennis the Menace statue from Dennis the Menace Park in 2006.

It weighed a good 200 pounds and was valued at $25,000-$30,000.

Now, after nearly a decade, it's been recovered across the country.

Today the official word from the city of Monterey on what happened is this: 

Monterey police and city parks crews searched for the statue after it vanished in 2006. The City offered a $5,000 reward for its return.

Now, nearly nine years later, comes word that Dennis the Menace has been found in Florida.

The statue arrived at a scrap metal company on Aug. 22, 2015 among other metal objects that were scheduled to be melted down.

The owner’s daughter-in-law recognized Dennis and did an internet search, which turned up media coverage and photos of the missing statue.

Brothers Scrap Metal of Orlando, in conjunction with the Orange County, Florida Sheriff’s Office and the Monterey Police Department are making arrangements for the return of the Dennis the Menace statue to Monterey.

The City will make good on its promise of a $5,000 reward for the return of the statue and will place the statue where it once stood at the entrance to the playground, where Dennis the Menace smiles at youngsters as they arrive and leave the park.

Cartoonist Ketcham commissioned artist and Academy Award winning animator Wah Ming Chang to sculpt a life(ish)-size statue of Dennis the Menace to be displayed in the Monterey playground.

The park was designed by Ketcham and sculptor Arch Garner and opened in 1956.

The statue was installed in 1988.

Monterey Police and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office pledge to continue their investigation of how Dennis rolled from California to Florida, and whether criminal activity was involved.

If nobody noticed it was missing, that's in part due to the fact that following the disappearance of the statue, the City of Monterey placed a re-cast statue at the playground.

The replacement statue will be moved to a new location once the original statue is returned to Monterey, polished, and secured in place at the playground.