An Austin man who admitted that he stole a statue of the Virgin Mary and painted it to look like a clown is now expected to receive a suspended jail sentence and be ordered to perform community service.

Briceson Bryan pleaded guilty to gross misdemeanor theft on Friday in Mower County District Court after admitting that he stole the statue from Calvary Cemetery on July 29.

According to police records, the 20-year-old man knocked the 5-foot-tall statue over, stole it, then painted it to look like a clown and hid it in a closet in his girlfriend Ashley Schwarzenbach's North Mankato apartment. Schwarzenbach earlier pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact.

The matter became known when the cemetery's caretaker received an anonymous call from a woman who claimed to know about the whereabouts of the stolen statue. The caretaker then discovered pictures of Bryan and Schwarzenbach with the statue on a MySpace.com site.

AP reports that the statue is currently being repaired to be returned to the cemetery around Memorial Day. Meanwhile, prosecutors dropped a felony theft charge on Bryan in exchange for his plea and an agreement to pay at least $1,000 in restitution.