The Granite City, Illinois police have arrested 37-year-old Gerry Arville Armbruster (mugshot above), and they believe he is the same guy who stole a massive collection of Superman memorabilia from Mike Meyer, a mentally disabled comics fan.

Armbruster, who sounds like a real class act, was caught yesterday by Granite City cops for a new crime: robbing a 76-year old man citizen of his jewelry and cash.

Earlier, geeks around the world rallied to Meyer's defense with offers of replacement Superman memorabilia. Now, it looks like he will get his original collection returned. He told reporters that the value of those stolen objects was more sentimental than financial, so this really is a wonderful development in a sad story.

Via Bleeding Cool. More news coverage: CBS St. Louis, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, KSDK.com, and Belleville News-Democrat.

UPDATE. From my colleague Mark, late-breaking news: the Superman burglar had a number of accomplices. [photo]

(thanks, Chrnoble!)