2 nabbed in pet house caper

One digital camera, one Palm Pilot, and more than $1,500 was stolen from the home of Bloomington's homeless and abandoned kitten and puppy population in the early morning hours of Feb. 18.\nMonroe County Animal Shelter personnel reported the crime later that morning. The MCAS shares office space with Bloomington Animal Care and Control. The criminals left the animals undisturbed. \nIU Police Department, serving a search warrant for a separate case, discovered the shelter's stolen digital camera at Elijah Rheichman's residence, thus making him a suspect for the burglary. \nHe was arrested with his girlfriend Jessica Chandler on Feb. 23 in Ft. Madison, Iowa. The two had traveled there in a stolen rental car following the burglary. \nThe Bloomington community has since risen to help the animal shelter overcome their loss of a firm sense of security in the workplace. \n"We've received some donations, and maintenance work is being done," said Sarah J. Hayes, BACC executive director. \nHayes bore the brunt of the crime more so than any of the other employees; the Palm Pilot taken was her own, whereas the digital camera was owned by the county. Hayes said she thought she likely lost the appliance permanently until she was notified Friday that it had been recovered and inventoried by local Iowan police personnel. \n"It was a gift I bought myself, it definitely had some meaning," she said. \nBACC Director Laurie Ringquist said the burglary did affect the sense of security and trust at the office. \nRheichman, the man arrested, was a former employee of the cleaning company which serves the animal shelter.\nHe had recently been terminated, but he still had his key to the shelter -- a similar key to the one used to gain illegal access to the building.\n"He would have been considered a suspect because he worked at the shelter, but there were a lot of people in that category," said Detective Sgt. David Drake of the Bloomington Police. \nHe is being formally charged with the crime while he is detained at a Monroe County Correctional Facility.\n"As far as I know the arrest went well," said IUPD Officer Rebecca Lucas, who was involved with the arrest because of a fraud case that Rheichman was already being charged with. \nFollowing the arrest, the stolen items were inventoried and the two suspects were taken to a local jail in Ft. Madison. Officer Lucas said Reichman was supposed to have been brought back to Bloomington either Saturday or Sunday. \nThe Monroe County Correctional Center was not available for comment at press time.\nOfficer Lucas said she has 100 percent confidence in Rheichman's guilt in the robbery, based on the evidence collected thus far.\n"They searched the house and found the stolen items from February's and other burglaries as well, including a stolen debit card which had belonged to an IU student," she said. \nA warrant for his arrest was being held by the IUPD for a credit card offense. However, the new burglary and robbery charges are the primary concern of local law enforcement.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Michael Beal at mdbeal@indiana.edu.