Viral Facebook post helps family find stolen fish house

by Mollie Rushmeyer

news@thenewsleader.com

Letting go of a loved one’s belongings after they pass away can be hard to face, but the added pain of having a precious, memory-filled possession stolen is something Meghan Wiebe’s family experienced Dec. 16.

After Wiebe’s father, Dennis Arndt, a retired Sauk Rapids teacher, passed away, he left behind a love of the outdoors and a hand-crafted fish house for his family to enjoy at his cabin on Briggs Lake near Clear Lake. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for someone else to admire the craftsmanship as well. On Dec. 16, Wiebe’s husband, Chris, noticed the fish house missing and soon the family knew it had been stolen.

“My dad was always saying treasure this, treasure that, treasure the things that are important,” Meghan Wiebe, also of Sauk Rapids, said. “He always had a project going, and after he died we had to let go of many unfinished projects. So, when the fish house was stolen, I knew we couldn’t let go of it without a fight.”

At first they thought perhaps Meghan’s brother moved it. But after checking with him, they knew he hadn’t. Chris went to the cabin next door where the neighbor noticed it wasn’t in the driveway Dec. 15. The neighbor across the road said he noticed the fish house there around 10 a.m. the day before.

With that information, Meghan took to Facebook with a plea for help in finding her father’s fish house, asking people to be on the lookout. They put up paper notices the old-fashioned way at local gas stations and bait shops. Their first lead came from a post-office worker who saw a vehicle pulling the fish house out of the neighborhood Dec. 15.

The fish house was more than timber and metal to Wiebe and her family.

“Dad built many things,” Wiebe said. “The fish house was his last big project. He took a long time on it, making it perfect. It was intended for the grandchildren. He wanted to pass along the joy of the outdoors.”

During his 35-year stretch as a Sauk Rapids fifth- and sixth-grade teacher, he loved to help organize field trips to Deep Portage and his cabin for ice fishing.

The post-office worker, who Wiebe says was in the right place at the right time, had a description of the vehicle he saw towing the fish house. The Wiebes gave the description to the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Department as well as adding it to the Facebook post. By Dec. 18, Meghan connected with ice fishermen and ice-fishing equipment groups on Facebook, telling the story. With her own post being shared far and wide and the groups sharing her plea, the news about the stolen fish house started to reach viral status. She said it went from 200 shares early Saturday to 1,000 late Saturday and then to over 8,300 by late Sunday.

“We were getting shares as far away as Arizona, Indiana even Florida,” Wiebe said.

She laughed, saying they hoped the stolen fish house wouldn’t get as far as Arizona or Florida, and she didn’t know what they would do with an ice-fishing house in the warmer states. But the family appreciated everyone’s kindness and their willingness to help strangers.

Eventually someone who knew the person who stole the fish house saw the posts. The person who knew the thief started by contacting the ice-fishing Facebook group. The group then told the Wiebes, who passed it on to the police. After some consideration, the informant decided to come forward and work with the police firsthand to get the fish house back to the rightful owners.

The police did retrieve the fish house from a property near Clearwater, but they are still working to locate the thief. The exterior of the fish house had been spray-painted blue and stripped bare so the family could scarcely recognize the object that had made so many memories. Regardless, they were overjoyed to have Grandpa Dennis’ fish house back.

Wiebe said it has changed her perspective on safety.

“We need to keep a closer eye on things,” she said. “And yeah, it did dampen our spirits a little.”

However, she added: “We had bigger, brighter lessons to learn about our community helping each other, and how they cared about Dad’s memory.”

On Jan. 14, they will receive a belated Christmas gift from Miller Auto Center in St. Cloud, which has offered to repaint the fish house back to its original red, free of charge.

To the many who helped spread their post and kept vigilant watch for her father’s fish house, Wiebe said this: “I want to express our thanks to all who shared. We are happy to continue his fishing legacy.”