The St. Joseph Police Department has released footage asking the public for help identifying a teen wanted in connection with a vandalism investigation.

Police are looking for the owner or driver of a vehicle believed to be a Blue Ford Escape with Missouri License Plates.

Detective Frank Till said a young man got into the vehicle briefly then left the vehicle and went on to vandalize a statue at the park located at 12th and Pacific.

Till said the youth looked to be in his mid to late teens wearing a white Hurley shirt and possibly tan shoes.

St. Joseph resident Steve Holdenried is offering a $300 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individuals responsible for the vandalism.

Holdenried said he worked with 5th graders from St. Patrick and Neely schools to establish the park at 12th and Pacific years ago.  He donated the statue to the park in remembrance of his late wife.

Holdenried said the full video footage shows three teens knock over the statue.

He said it’s not the first time vandals have hit.

“The wing on that side was damaged about eight years ago when we had some kids that lived out of this area.  They damaged it because they saw me working here at that time and they were putting paint on that overpass there and they were spray painting dirty words and stuff and there was about six kids and like an idiot I chased them down with a rake,” Holdenried said. “They came back a couple of days later and knocked that wing off.”

Holdenried was out cleaning up the park Tuesday afternoon.  He said when he came back he found that someone had put the statue back up.  This time, the fall broke off a section of the statue’s sleeve.

Anyone with information into the vandalism or vehicle shown is asked to contact Det. Frank Till at 816-236-1455.