No leads have panned out for finding McDonald’s iconic clown statue that was stolen earlier this month from a Nesquehoning fast food restaurant.

On Wednesday, Nesquehoning Police Chief Bradley Hess told borough council that the department has been following up on the leads it received after the Ronald McDonald statue was stolen from the restaurant in broad daylight. The culprits were four people who were seen on security cameras walking out of Play Place with the statue and stuffing Ronald into the front seat of their vehicle.

Hess said there have been no leads that brought answers to Ronald’s whereabouts or the identities of the culprits.

“All the leads we got, we followed them and came up with nothing,” he said. “People were saying it was so and so, and we looked into it and it wasn’t.

“Unfortunately, as of now, we have no more leads.”

Hess also said that the one Ronald statue found on eBay was not Nesquehoning’s clown.

“We reached out to eBay because they have a whole fraud investigation team,” he said. “Through talking to them, we determined that the one that was up was posted before ours was even taken.”

Council discussed the photos of the vehicle, specifically the license plate.

Hess said that police believe it was a temporary plate because it didn’t have any distinguishable markers on it.

Councilwoman Lois Kuba said it was unbelievable that these four individuals haven’t been identified with how much attention the theft has received by news outlets nationwide.

“For all the media, we figured somebody would recognize them,” she said.

Hess agreed, adding that at this point, he doesn’t think the culprits are trying to sell the statue.

Council, as well as residents in attendance, agreed that the people involved were obviously not from the immediate area.

“I think the local kids understand it’s not funny. This is not a joke,” said Councilwoman Suzanne Smith. “We don’t want any copycats because this is not funny. Clearly they’re not local.”

“Our teachers and staff would have been on that right away,” said Anthony DeMarco, a Panther Valley School Board member in attendance at the meeting.

McDonald’s is still holding out hope that Ronald will return.

On Wednesday evening, the electronic sign at the restaurant continued to ask for information on the whereabouts of the beloved statue.

Ronald was taken from the store’s Play Place on July 6. Before that, it had been a fixture in the store for over two decades.

A humorous post by Nesquehoning police on Facebook helped garner national attention for the theft.

Anyone with any information regarding the identity of the suspects involved or the whereabouts of Ronald is still asked to contact borough police at 570-669-9111.