Thread: Mess with animals, prepare to rumble

Published Monday February 16, 2009
Mess with animals, prepare to rumble
BY JASON KUIPER
World-Herald Staff Writer



COUNCIL BLUFFS — The message apparently hasn’t gotten out: Don’t mess with the animals at the Bird Cage.

The shop where a man reportedly tried to steal an iguana in May by stuffing it down his pants and where an expensive puppy was stolen — and later retrieved — has been hit again.

When the iquana was stolen, owner Rex Maresch chased the suspect down and confronted him. Several reptiles were killed.

On Sunday, Maresch, who trains in martial arts, again gave chase over a missing animal.

Maresch, 46, said he followed a man out of the store at 2719 E. Kanesville Blvd. after noticing a puppy was missing. The man started to run, with the puppy tucked inside his trench coat. Maresch ran after him.

The man turned around and ran back into the store, joining the people with whom he arrived.

Once back inside, Maresch said three men surrounded him near the store’s cash register. He said he felt the men were trying to intimidate him.

"I smiled like - All right, we’re going to rumble," he said. "It was three against one, but I’m ready. When he saw I wasn’t going to back down, he threw the dog at me."

Maresch caught the $600 designer dog, a bichon-poos mix, which was unharmed. Maresch told them police had been called. The group — three men and two girls — ran from the store, and a second chase was on.

Maresch got a description of the vehicle, a Ford Explorer, and a license plate number.

About 20 minutes later, police stopped the vehicle and a 26-year-old man was taken into custody. He remains at the Pottawattamie County Jail, where an immigration hold has been placed on him.

But that wasn’t the end of Maresch’s troubles.

He received a call about 1:30 a.m. Monday from a nearby bar owner telling him that the store had been vandalized. The front door’s windows and two other windows were broken out.

Maresch said police told him the damage looked like an attempt at intimidation or payback.

Maresch said he hopes that’s the last of the thefts.

"I just wanted my dog back."

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Get a gun bud. Its only gonna get worse.

Does this mean that illegals are going into business for themselves by stealing wares from American shops?

Originally Posted by vortex

Does this mean that illegals are going into business for themselves by stealing wares from American shops?

You don't know how true that is! I used to work at a drug store in a hispanic part of town (mostly illegal) and they would steal items from the store to sell at a flea market. Fortunately, they were stupid enough to sell these things at a flea market that was an eighth of a mile from the store. Me and a co-worker would have to go there on Saturdays with our scanner. I would find things like expensive Mach 3 razor cartridges, scan the item to see how many we should have on hand in the store, then have a clerk at the store count the item to see how many are missing. Since we never saw the theft taking place, the cops wouldn't get involved. The manager would cuss them out in Spanish and give them warnings. In Grand Prarie, we have a HUGE flea market called Traders Village. If you go to the back where the tables are set up, you see TONS of stolen items even with the CVS/Walgreens sticker still attatched! But these are good, hard working people, right?