SEATTLE — A majority of the football championship rings stolen from a University of Washington staffer have been recovered, the UW Police Department announced Wednesday.
The university confirmed that a burglary occurred at "an area within Husky Stadium" early in the morning of Sept. 5.
Jake Otten, UW's director of Football Technology, previously told KING 5 that a dozen of his championship rings were taken. "It was kind of shocking," said Otten. UW said eight of the 12 rings stolen had been recovered. Otten posted on X with an image of his recovered rings, and said he hopes the other four can be found as well. Otten said there are two Kansas State University and two North Dakota State University rings missing.
UWPD said the two suspects were identified and that some of the stolen items were recovered, but did not confirm whether the suspects had been formally arrested or taken into custody.
The department declined to comment when KING 5 reached out Thursday to ask whether the suspects had been arrested.
In an X post following the theft, UWPD initially included images of two suspects caught on surveillance video. However, that post was taken down and UWPD has not explained why the image was deleted when asked by KING 5.
Otten said his name is on each ring and he doesn't think they'll be worth a lot, maybe a couple hundred dollars. He hopes the symbols of his hard work will soon be back in his possession. "Those rings mean a lot to me," he said.
If you have any information about the thefts, or where the stolen rings might be, you are asked to email uwpolice@uw.edu or call 206-685-8973.