Chaplin with his second honorary Oscar in 1972.  Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Early in his career he played a cop in the film The Thief Catcher, and now it looks like Charlie Chaplin - or at least his Oscar - needs one.

The first of the actor's three Oscars was stolen in a targeted break-in at the offices of the Chaplin Association by knowledgeable thieves in late January, newspaper Le Parisien reported. The statue, valued at over $1 million, was lifted along with a set of pens valued at $90,000 (€80,000) each.

"The perpetrators of the break-in targeted only those objects and nothing else. They were perfectly informed," an unnamed police source told the newspaper. The Paris prosecutor's office has opened an official inquiry, and the special police task force from the repression of banditry brigade (BRB) in charge of art thefts is leading the investigation.

The offices of the Swiss-based association, which protects Chaplin's name and image, as well as works to restore and archive his films and continue education about the actor, are just blocks from the Louvre.

"We and the Chaplin family are very sad and shocked by this break-in. We hope the person or persons will return the Oscar very soon seeing as it is of no value to anyone except us, and there is no way that they can sell it publicly," said Chaplin Association director Kate Guyonvarch in an emailed statement to THR.  "We were looking forward to lending this precious object to the future Chaplin museum in Switzerland."

The missing Oscar was an honorary award given at the first Academy Awards in 1929 for Chaplin's "versatility and genius in acting, writing, directing and producing" The Circus that year.

Read more at Hollywood Reporter