Pickpocket pummeled by former Marine gets 6 months

Pickpocket pummeled by former Marine gets 6 months
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jan 29, 2008 10:09:16 EST

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A 28-year-old man who took a beating when he tried to pick the pocket of a 72-year-old former Marine is going to jail for six months.

Jesse Rae pleaded guilty in November to assault with intent to commit unarmed robbery against Bill Barnes. He was sentenced Monday in Kent County Circuit Court.

Rae had said he’d used alcohol and cocaine June 22 before he entered a suburban Grand Rapids party store and noticed a wad of bills in Barnes’ pocket.

A surveillance camera in the store captured Barnes hitting Rae’s head and body with his fists. Barnes landed six or seven blows before a store manager intervened.

Barnes not only served in the military but also was a Golden Gloves boxer.

Video: Watch the takedown

http://www.militarytimes.com/multime...marine_dustup/

Former Marine, 72, pummels alleged thief
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jan 29, 2008 10:06:39 EST

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Bill Barnes says he was scratching off a losing $2 lottery ticket inside a gas station when he felt a hand slip into his front-left pants pocket, where he had $300 in cash.

He immediately grabbed the person’s wrist with his left hand and started throwing punches with his right, landing six or seven blows before a store manager intervened.

“I guess he thought I was an easy mark,” Barnes, 72, told The Grand Rapids Press for a story Tuesday.

He’s anything but an easy mark: Barnes served in the MarineCorps, was an accomplished Golden Gloves boxer and retired after 20 years as an iron worker.

Jesse Daniel Rae, 27, was arraigned Monday in Rockford District Court on one count of unarmed robbery.

Barnes said he had just withdrawn the money from a bank machine and put it in the pocket of his shorts before driving to a service station in Comstock Park, a Grand Rapids suburb.

He remembers noticing a patron acting suspiciously, asking the price of different brands of cigarettes and other items. While turned away, Barnes felt the hand in his pocket, so he took action.

“I guess I acted on instinct,” he said.

Kent County sheriff’s deputies said the store manager quickly came around the counter. The three struggled through the front door, where two witnesses said the manager slammed Rae to the ground and held him there.

“There was blood everywhere,” said another manager on duty, Abby Ostrom, 25.

Barnes was a regional runner-up in Golden Gloves competition in the novice and open divisions before enlisting in the Marine Corps in 1956.

After retiring as an iron worker, he now works part-time as a starter at a golf course.

Barnes said he’d probably do the same thing again under the same circumstances, if for no other reason than what he would face back home.

“I wouldn’t want my wife to give me hell for lettin’ that guy get my money,” he said with a smile.

Ellie