Greensboro, NC-- Most of us would agree that no bad deed should go unpunished. That said, punishment for a Triad man's "prank" came at a public price.

Thursday night, a man had to publicly apologize for one solid hour for a crime he committed in July 2011. He called it a prank but the owners of a damage ballpark statue and fans were not laughing.

To understand what happened you have to go back one year ago this month. That's when someone vandalize and literally ripped a statue from one of the Triad's best known ballparks.

The statue was that of 'Miss Babe Ruth' the bat dog for the Greensboro Grasshoppers baseball team. Babe Ruth is adored by fans and is just as famous as the players.

When staff reported for duty, the statue was gone. All that was left were the paws, which were cemented to the ground at NewBridge Bank Park.

Days later the statue was found and returned by Greensboro Police.

Days later with the help of Crime Stoppers tips, Police arrested and charged Andrew Seth Carawan with Felony Larceny, Injury to Real Property, and Felony Possession of Stolen Goods. 

"When the suspect found out that we were looking for him, basically he called us to try to take the heat off of his friends so we were able to go and retrieve the dog. He handed it right over to us, admitted to everything," said Greensboro Police Officer Mike Vuncannon.

"He said that he kicked it," said Vuncannon. "Kicked it and it fell right off."

"He said that he had basically just done a stupid prank gone wrong," added Vuncannon.

The Guilford County District Attorney's Office said Carawan agreed to hold up the sign for an hour tonight. The sign reads "I stole the Babe Statue and I'm Sorry."

Carawan hopes doing this will bring some reduction in his charges when the case goes to court in September.

Tonight fans took pictures of Carawan as he held his sign and gave thoughts on public punishment.

Carawan declined an interview request.

WFMY News 2