Collectibles are a prime target for thieves. This is especially true for comic books where authenticating them is much easier than say an autographed picture of Joe DiMaggio.
Gerry Armbruster is a thief according to SLT Today. The Missouri man was arrested after being caught for stealing a vulnerable Superman collector of many of his favorite items.
The 37-year-old Ambruster was covert, police caught him while he was forcibly robbing an elderly male of jewelry and money.
It was this more recent incident allowed police to link Armbruster to the Superman theft, which occurred two weeks ago and quickly captured attention across the country, and even the world.
Mike Meyer, the victim, has collected Superman items most of his life. The 48-year-old lives off social security for a mental disability and works part-time at a McDonald's in to support himself. Meyer even named his dogs, Krypto and Dyno.
Ambruster didn’t just steal the rare Superman comic he swindled more than 1,800 Superman comic books, and hundreds of figurines and other memorabilia. Meyer immediately went public with the theft, hoping the increased attention would make it harder for the thief to resell the items.
Meyer had no idea how much attention his story would receive. Word of the theft quickly spread among fellow collectors, who started up collection drives and gathered support through online message boards and e-mail lists.
Good Samaritans
Dozens of people called and emailed, looking for ways to help Meyer replenish his collection. Donations started coming in from Florida, Colorado, Alaska, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. The list of offered items kept growing.
A very tight-knit community, comic book fans believe in paying it forward.
Jon Bogdanove, an artist who was under contract with DC Comics through most of the 90s and worked on its Man of Steel comic book, sent a personal drawing and some of his recent work.
Bogdanove said he was inspired by the bevy of support shown by the comic book collectors groups and wanted to do his part as well. He said the common motivation of everyone involved seems to reflect Superman's message in the comic books and movies.
Police said the 76-year-old had hired Armbruster to clean up a vacant business. In robbing him, Armbruster also caused the man minor injuries, police said. Granite City police learned Madison police were already dealing with Armbruster on an unrelated matter. At that point, they took him into custody.
As for his Superman collection, Meyer now has close to double what he had lost. Smith has about 40 more items ready to be delivered, and dozens more have been promised.
While the story for Meyer ended happily, it is just another sign of how far many people stray from being good, stand-up citizens. The karma on Earth would be so much better if people treated each other with kindness and respect. It goes back to what we all are taught as kids – don’t take things that do not belong to you!