Travis Bachman, the owner of Travis Bachman Scrap and More, primarily uses yard signs and word of mouth to promote his Marshalltown-based business offering a variety of residential and commercial services including lawn care. Between April 11 and 13, however, over 80 of those signs disappeared.

Bachman, understandably frustrated, contacted city officials and the Marshalltown Police Department to see if they had been removed for violating an ordinance and found out they hadn’t. Initially, an MPD officer told him they wouldn’t have time to check the security camera footage of every business where the signs had been taken, instead asking Bachman to pinpoint a few that he believed would have helpful footage about who may have stolen the signs. He believed the Git-n-Go gas stations would have, but it turned out there was nothing with enough range to reach the lawn.

“I went around (to) all the major businesses. I went to Taco Bell, Verizon Wireless, CenturyLink, Nagle Signs, the Town Center, Sherwin Williams, a bunch of apartments and asked everyone, you know, ‘Do you guys have any cameras?’ And no place has exterior cameras. If they do, it’s just like a doorway. It doesn’t reach to the lawn, and it just kind of disappeared,” Bachman said.

At the time, he opted to simply buy more signs and hope the previous incident was just a fluke while setting up a few trail cameras and reaching out to friends with Ring doorbell cameras. Last Friday evening at about 5:22 p.m., he noticed the trail camera going off at the Git-N-Go on South Center Street, and 12 other signs were subsequently taken at locations between Iowa Avenue and Southridge Road.

He captured clear footage of a man stealing the signs, but in a surprising twist, Bachman said he has no indication of who the suspect is or what his motivations might be. He appears to drive a “newer style” maroon GMC Acadia with black trim, but he hasn’t been able to get his license plate number yet.

“He looked completely unfamiliar to me. I really thought that certainly, if I saw the person, it’s some former employee or competitor or some kids, but to see someone random, that’s what the worst part is. I don’t know who this could be or why,” Bachman said. “There’s much easier ways to express anger.”

He has since opened up a new case with the MPD and hopes that by pinpointing the time when the thefts occurred, he could utilize the city’s Flock cameras to obtain the suspect’s license plate number. Capt. Sadie Weekley said the case is still under investigation, and the department is looking into it.

Bachman, who has been in business for 14 years and has his office at 312 S. 1st Ave., said this is the strangest situation he has dealt with in his career thus far. Nonetheless, he’s been overwhelmed with the support the Marshalltown community has shown him through the peculiar ordeal.

“I always say that the only reason I’m able to get where I’m at is because of everyone else because I’ve never spent (much) besides (on) those yard signs. That’s the only form of advertisement I normally do, you know,” he said. “I don’t do a lot on the Internet. I don’t do a lot on that, so it’s just word of mouth. And then people on Facebook have always been great about sharing my stuff. They were kind of my little advertisers in a way, so I would ride and die with this community.”

Anyone with relevant information is encouraged to either call Bachman at (641) 750-4409 or the MPD non-emergency line at (641) 754-5725. Despite the latest setback, the signs are still visible at several sites around Marshalltown, and Bachman is staying vigilant as he has trail and Ring cameras set up at several locations.

“Hopefully, if he is brave enough to do it again, we’ll catch him,” he said.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

maharry@timesrepublican.com.