The Roanoke Times | File 2006

Michael Scott Russell, a former Virginia Tech student, had been charged with grand larceny and destruction of property in the Dec. 3, 2006, theft of the fiberglass Hokie Bird statue called "Motion Technology for Sea, Land, Air and Space." He instead was found guilty of a misdemeanor Wednesday.

Editor's note: The charge of misdemeanor petit larceny in the 2006 theft of a Hokie Bird statue against Michael Scott Russell was later dropped. Read the full story

CHRISTIANSBURG -- A man who took off with one of Blacksburg's well-known fiberglass Hokie Bird statues nearly two years ago was found guilty of a misdemeanor instead of a felony Wednesday.

Michael Scott Russell, 22, had been charged with grand larceny and destruction of property in the Dec. 3, 2006, theft of the bird, called "Motion Technology for Sea, Land, Air and Space." Russell and Matthew Alan Hanson were Virginia Tech students, both from Maryland, when they were charged with taking the statue from its spot in front of Moog Components Group on North Main Street in Blacksburg.

The destruction charge against Russell was dropped after Hanson admitted to jumping on the statue while he was intoxicated, accidentally breaking it off its base. The men then carried it to their nearby apartment.

At hearings last year, Circuit Court Judge Ray Grubbs took the remaining charges against both men under advisement for a year.

At Russell's hearing Wednesday, Grubbs amended the grand larceny charge to petit larceny. He found Russell guilty of the lesser charge and sentenced him to 30 days in jail, all suspended.

At a May hearing for Hanson in Montgomery County Circuit Court, Grubbs elected to keep Hanson's case under advisement for another year.

Hanson presented the judge with a bound 31-page booklet filled with information that was divided into four categories to keep up with Hanson's actions to make up for his bad deed: restitution, community service, addiction rehabilitation and character references.

Russell's was the first of several Hokie Bird vandalism cases to come to a close.

Russell and Hanson were the first to be charged in connection with the vandalism of one of the statues, several of which have been damaged since they were placed at locations around Blacksburg in February 2006 and then sold as a fundraiser for the Blacksburg Partnership.

Each of the hand-painted statues was valued at $7,500 or more.

Charges are pending against nine men who were students at the University of Virginia when they ripped "Farmer Hokie" off its base from in front of the town's municipal building in March of 2007.

The men admitted to taking the bird, which was later stolen back, though by whom it remains unclear. They have performed community service in Blacksburg to try to make up for it.

Ariel Poliner, Phillip Sukys, Jesse Germanow, Alfred Lucia, Russell Gartman, Brian Grochal, Johan Roos, Jonathan Foster and Andrew Pearson were originally charged with felony destruction of property but the charges were later reduced to misdemeanors.

The charges against them were also taken under advisement. The men are due back in Montgomery County court in January.