Thieves Steal 3,000 Comic Books, Try To Sell Them Back To Original Owner

Last week, Martin Casas learned that his collection of over 3,000 comic books had been stolen from his storage unit in Missouri after a lock was clipped. However, things quickly turned around for him after the comic book store owner requested a specific thing from his staff.

According to the Riverfront Times, Casas said he was "boiling on the inside, seething" once he realized what had happened, especially after he was notified that the location of his unit was not covered by surveillance cameras.

Once the police were called, they revealed that there had been a recent string of storage unit burglaries, but no arrests had been made at that time. However, this didn't discourage Casas as he still held out hope to see his belongings once again.

A year before the burglary, Casas had opened Apotheosis Comics & Lounge in St. Louis. Following the theft, he instructed his staff to both notify him if anyone attempted to sell a large collection and to tell them that they were "definitely interested." Luckily, such an opportunity presented itself shortly thereafter.

Only a few days later, a woman asked Apotheosis if they wanted to purchase a box of comics from her. Per Casas' orders, the employee accepted the request and the woman dropped them off. She then left her name and number so that she could be contacted after the staff looked them over. What she didn't know was that the reviewing process included Casas immediately realizing that they were in fact his stolen comics.

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One thing that quickly alerted the owner to the fact that the comics belonged to him was "Cap" written inside the box, which stood for Captain America. Additionally, one particular issue of the Captain America "Truth" series had a small red mark in the corner, which made Casas say, "It's my box."

After the realization, the owner called the cops, and then the woman. At the time, she had no idea she had attempted to sell them back to their original owner, so he had to play along until the police intervened.

"This is a great collection," he told her, adding, "You've got at least a couple hundred dollars in comics there."

The two then arranged for a meeting the next morning, but before ending the call he asked the woman if she had any other pieces for sale. She said she did, stating that she and her boyfriend "do storage units." After claiming she had car trouble, the woman arrived at the meeting point with her boyfriend and the two were arrested.

"It was absolutely the most bizarre 24 hours of my life," Casas concluded.