Stolen Mojave Desert cross turns up in Bay area

A controversial cross Mojave Desert that was stolen two years has turned up hundreds of miles away in the San Francisco Bay area.

The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department was notified Monday that a large cross was tied to a fence post in Half Moon Bay. An attached note asked finders to contact authorities.

KGO-TVhttp://bit.ly/Ug0aD1 says the National Park Service confirmed it’s the same cross that vanished from Sunrise Rock in the Mojave Desert. The Sheriff’s Department plans to return it.

The cross honoring war dead was taken in 2010 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it didn’t violate separation of church and state because the public land it stood on was being transferred to a veterans group. A replacement will be dedicated there on Sunday for Veterans Day.