Missing Oscar Plea

By Stephen M. Silverman

12/15/1997 at 12:00 AM EST

Roadway Express employee Lawrence Ledent, charged with stealing 55 Oscar statuettes (52 of which later turned up in a trash bin) pleaded innocent in a Los Angeles courtroom on Tuesday. His attorney said that Ledent, 38, was merely "a dupe in this matter." Anthony Hart, another Railway Express employee who had been arrested in the case, was not charged due to insufficient evidence.