An extraordinary effort by law enforcement and the community has resulted in the recovery of all of the medals from the stolen uniform of a deceased Vietnam veteran.

Kalispell Police Officer Brett Corbett said Wednesday that investigators expected that the Bronze Star would be recovered later that day.

“If they do, then I think all of the medals would have been recovered,” Corbett said.

The uniform of U.S. Army Capt. James Smith had been placed in a shadow box with all his medals and ribbons by his brother Greg when James died eight years ago. Since then, it had been on display in Frame It, Greg Smith’s Kalispell shop.

Police say it was stolen from the wall on Jan. 9 by 25-year-old Sean David Smith (no relation to Greg or James) while Greg was in the back of the shop fixing a frame for Sean Smith’s wife.

Corbett said it may not be possible to recover the uniform itself or the chest plate that held the ribbons denoting the campaigns in which James Smith was involved. And while Greg Smith hoped that chest plate might be found, he said the recovery of the medals left him overwhelmed.

“They’ve already found more than I ever thought they would, so I’m really happy,” he said. “I’ve had a great response from them and the community. I’ve had call after call.”

Greg Smith said he has received calls from the local VFW offering replacement Vietnam-era medals for any that weren’t recovered, a woman offering $100 to start a reward for the return of any of the pieces and another person who offered him a spare Purple Heart.

The actual Purple Heart stolen from James Smith’s uniform was located by police going the extra mile — searching a snow bank with a metal detector.

“What I hear is they even looked through some Dumpsters,” Greg Smith said. “They definitely went above and beyond. How often do they go around with metal detectors just looking for stuff? It’s just been super.”

Not only have community members not involved in the case offered their support, but the father of Sean Smith’s wife — for whom Greg Smith repaired a frame and gave her a $10 invoice that later helped identify Sean as the culprit — stopped by to pay him the $10 and apologize for what happened.

“That was really nice. I appreciated that,” Greg said.

As for his thoughts on Sean Smith, what Greg Smith wanted most was a change in behavior and perspective.

“I hope he’s learned a lesson and I hope it scared him a little bit,” he said. “I think it’s probably been the most visual and most publicized thing he’s ever done. To have your name and picture plastered all over everything can’t be a good feeling for anyone.”

He said it’s not always the stealing but rather what is stolen that causes the most damage.

“You can take something that is absolutely worthless to you but means so much to somebody else. Thieves don’t think about that,” Greg Smith said. “They’re just out after the money.”

He said he was glad Sean Smith was no longer on the street and hoped he would get his life on track.

“I think he’s just got a lot of problems — he doesn’t seem like that bad of a guy,” he said, crediting his daughter for thinking about it from the perspective of what Sean Smith’s life may have been like: “He’s just a down-and-out, hard-luck guy.”

Sean Smith currently is charged in Kalispell Municipal Court with misdemeanor theft (for allegedly stealing the uniform) as well as another charge of misdemeanor theft in an unrelated case. He also has at least two prior convictions for misdemeanor theft.

In Flathead District Court, Sean Smith is charged with two felony counts of forgery and felony counts of criminal distribution of dangerous drugs and theft as well as misdemeanor theft, with the charges spread across four cases.

Among the allegations in the District Court cases is that he pawned stolen tools, tires and equipment last year at Montana Trade and Over the Hill Pawn. The latter is one of the place where he allegedly tried to pawn medals from the stolen uniform.

A court document alleges Sean Smith admitted knowing the items were stolen and pawning them anyway, but denied taking the items, saying he pawned them for another person to pay off a drug debt and to support his own drug addiction.

In a trio of 2012 cases, Sean Smith is alleged to have stolen checkbooks from four people and written fraudulent checks totaling $6,725, stolen a driver’s license and other various personal item and sold a tenth of a gram of heroin for $50.

He eventually posted reduced bond of $1,000 and moved into a relative’s house under electronic monitoring.

District Judge Ted Lympus later signed an order releasing Smith on his own recognizance — eliminating any monitoring requirements — on Nov. 4, 2013, just three days after he was officially charged in his 2013 case and a $10,000 warrant had been issued for his arrest.

Two months and five days later, he allegedly stole the uniform.

He has pleaded not guilty in all of his cases.

He currently is incarcerated in the Flathead County Detention Center, where his total bond is set at $52,210. He has hearings coming up for two of the 2012 cases on Jan. 29 and hearings in all four cases scheduled for Feb. 13.

Including the new charges in the alleged uniform theft and the other theft case in Municipal Court, Sean Smith faces between 30 days and 18 months in the county jail and between one year and life plus 50 years in the Montana State Prison as well as a fine of up to $204,500, plus any restitution.

Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.