Antiques dealer offers $1K reward for vandals
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Mark Reinfurt looks over the damaged statue outside his home in Castleton. Vyto Starinskas / Rutland Herald |
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By Brent Curtis Staff Writer - Published: November 4, 2009
CASTLETON — Mark Reinfurt is offering a $1,000 reward for information about vandals who damaged a $29,000 stag sculpture he owns.
The 5-foot-tall, 5-foot-long cast-iron sculpture has been a fixture on Reinfurt's South Street property for some time. But at some point during the day or night of Oct. 21 or 22, the antiques dealer said the heavy stag was toppled on its side, fracturing the head and producing stress fractures throughout the 140-year-old sculpture.
"It would take four men to lift it," Reinfurt said. "There had to be more than one person involved."
The stag, which Reinfurt said he was trying to sell, can be reforged, but he said its value has diminished considerably.
"Oh, yeah, we can fix it, but it will be nothing like it was," he said. "It's lost a lot of value. None of my clients are going to buy it."
Castleton police are investigating the incident, but Police Chief Bruce Sherwin said there are no suspects in the case and scant leads to go on.
As the investigation continues, Reinfurt said he is looking for clues himself by offering a reward for the arrest and conviction of those responsible.
While he has no evidence pointing at anyone, Reinfurt has also taken legal steps to put his nearest neighbor on notice: Castleton State College, whose property surrounds his.
In a letter sent late last month by his attorney, Jack Welch, Reinfurt issued a "formal complaint to Castleton State College regarding recent vandalism on the part of the students …."
Welch's letter also calls on college administrators to prohibit students from coming onto Reinfurt's property and to assist with finding and expelling the vandals.
Reinfurt said he's convinced college students were involved in the vandalism based on past incidents including the theft of his hand-carved business sign that he said was recovered once from a dorm room and once from the school cafeteria ceiling.
He plans to hang up reward posters at several locations around the college campus.
But as far as Sherwin is concerned there's no reason to believe students were involved in the incident.
"There's no evidence that directly relates to the college at this time," the chief said. "It could have been anybody."
The college dean of administration, Bill Allen, said Tuesday he hasn't seen a report on the vandalism, but he said the college would do whatever it can to assist the police if called on.
"We have a good relationship with Chief Sherwin. We do what we can with any investigation," he said.
Allen also acknowledged prior incidents involving Reinfurt's property, although he declined to discuss them. The dean did say the school has tried to remedy property boundary issues with Reinfurt by planting trees along the border of his property.
brent.curtis@rutlandherald.com
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