seeker333

https://news.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blog...164456345.html

Colorado Woman Spots Stolen Bike on Craigslist, Steals it Back
By Christina Ng | ABC News


A Colorado woman took matters into her own hands when her bike was stolen from outside of a Boulder sports bar. She tracked down her stolen bike on Craigslist, pretended to be an interested buyer and stole back her own bike.

Kathryn Lucas, 25, parked her bike outside of a bar where she went to watch a University of Colorado football game on the night of Oct. 4, according to ABC News’ Denver affiliate KMGH.

When she left the bar to head home, she discovered that her black Trek 1.2 road bike was missing. After filing a police report, she and her roommate began searching Craigslist to see if the thief was trying to sell the bike.

Sure enough, Lucas found a posting with a photo of her bike. She immediately recognized her bike’s red handle-bar tape and her water bottle holder.

Lucas responded to the Craigslist ad, pretending to be an interested buyer. Minutes later, a person using the name “Lance Robinson” responded with his phone number and instructed her to text him so he could send her his address.

On Sunday, Lucas went to the man’s apartment complex and asked if she could test ride the bike.

“I started riding it and knew it was my bike, so I just kept riding it,” Lucas told KMGH. “I rode it to my car and then threw it it in my car and then drove away.”

Lucas said she had not been planning on getting the bike back that way, but took advantage of an opportunity and made a spur-of-the-moment decision.

“They were a lot bigger than I thought they were,” Lucas said. “I thought it’d be like a little person that stole bikes and I’d be like, ‘Hey, I called the police and that’s my bike and you’re trying to sell it to me,’ but I just took it for a ride and went with it.”

After she had recovered her bike, Lucas called the police and gave them the thief’s address. “Lance Robinson” turned out to be 18-year-old Denzel O’Neal Crawford, who did not have a prior police record.

Crawford was arrested, confessed to stealing the bike and was released on bond. Police also told Lucas that, though her recovery mission was successful, it was not a tactic they recommend, according to KMGH.

“They told me for future reference that I probably would not want to do that by myself,” Lucas said.

SBRDude

Good story. I love how the police don't recommend that - I'm sure their crack team of detectives were working on recovering the bike for her - yeah, right!!

Chris516

What do the police recommend, when they could care less about cyclists' and/or, their bikes. They tell cyclists' not to go after the perp, when the police won't lift a finger to do it themselves.

rydabent

What is really maddening is the fact that with the price of a good bike, it amounts to grand theft. Yet the police have the attitude that it is "just" a bike.

mnemia

The police don't actually care if someone gets their stolen bike back, since that's small potatoes as far as they are concerned (not that it necessarily should be, but it's understandable why police view it that way when they have limited resources). But they don't want to encourage tactics that could lead to worse things happening to people, such as their getting beaten or shot after trying to confront the thieves. Thieves are criminals, and some criminals are dangerous, violent people. So they actually are, in a strange way, trying to protect public safety by making that statement. Of course, if they would lift a finger to help the victims of "minor crimes", that too would protect public safety by discouraging future theft and "vigilantism".

BTW, I don't think what this person did was particularly dangerous. I would do it too, if I knew for a fact that it was my stolen bike and that I could get away with it before the thief could do anything to retaliate.

bikecrate

Sounds like she handled it well for the situation. However, if it were me, I would have brought some friends along.

Chris516

Funny...

The police don't want worse things happening to cyclists, yet what happens to bikes and/or cyclists is way down on the list of their priorities. Cyclists(at least in my county) can't even report a violation of the 3ft. passing law despite getting it on camera. The standard excuse by the police is something like 'I had to see it personally to believe it'. But the only way the could actually see it is, if they were a passenger in the offending vehicle. Otherwise, They have to make an eyewitness judgement call as to whether or not to pursue the vehicle, regardless of what the cyclist says'.

In the words of late comedian Rodney Dangerfield 'I(Cyclists) don't get no respect, no respect at all'.

Chris516

That same crack team of detectives would probably be hammering out ideas, where to get their next donut n' coffee combo. They just hadn't decided on what donut shop to go to.

Chris516

I like how she was creative in getting her bike back. I am also glad that, the cops didn't go after her for theft since, while she knew it was her bike, she didn't have 100% incontrovertible evidence that it was her bike.

hagen2456

Frame number is helpfull

fuji86

Possession is 9/10, let the other 1/10 be disproven after the fact when you're that certain it's your's. She had a report from the previous night's theft. Get those serial numbers before any adjustments to the bike are made to ride it.

Seattle Forrest

I believe the police recommend spelling gurl with an i in place of the u, and checking the dictionary in times of uncertainty.

Chris516

lol 'I' is two vowels before 'U'. How they could mess that up, is beyond me.

fuji86

ctm, u, i & o keys are next to each other and in that order on the keyboard. Could've just as easily been gorl and been Al Gore's daughter who had her bike stolen and she recovered it.

gcottay

"Girl" is mostly about gender. "Gurl" adds an attitude.

I'm happy to note that Ms Lucas' feisty and self-reliant attitude did not lead her into difficulty.

dynodonn 

After reading and hearing first hand on the some of the end results on where some individuals defended or recovered their personal property by themselves, one definitely needs to make a prude decision on whether the value of an item is worth the personal expense.

SBRDude

That's a funny typo - prude instead of prudent.

KonAaron Snake 

LOL - they had them working in teams.

KonAaron Snake 

I'm not sure what your area is like, but around here they don't care about car theft or any theft unless it involves LOTS of blood or a fellow officer. I'm sure it's a challenging job, and i sure as heck wouldn't do it, but if it isn't high profile, it doesn't matter here.

CB HI

Time to start a 'gurl' / 'girl' debate sticky.

Digital_Cowboy

Let's also not forget that they take that same attitude (or worse) at crash scenes. Why can't they call for someone to pick up a person's bike who has been hit by a car? Also let's not forget that in the case in Ohio after Selez v Trotwood that when the police arrested the two "scofflaw" cyclists that they just left their bikes on the side of the road. And that fortunately that there was someone in the crowd who recolonized at least one of them and took custody of their bikes so that they wouldn't get stolen.

Digital_Cowboy

Which is why I keep a copy of the S/N(s) on my smartphone. I'm also going to take a picture of me on each bike and keep it on my phone as well. And it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to take a picture of each S/N as well.

Chris516

I have a picture of my bike, on my computer, and saved to a CD. But I should also have a copy of it on a digital memory card. I should also put the S/N on file too.

sudo bike

That's awesome. I probably would have called the cops and see if they could send an officer with me to recover the bike... but I also have pictures of my bike and the serial number, plus receipts for the upgrades I've made, which not everyone else might have. Barring that, I'd go with friends and at least some pepper spray, if not some other form of defense. You never know what may happen in that sort of situation, which is why the cops don't want to encourage it; they could be held liable.

DX-MAN

Read the story on another website, and the girl did call the PD, so how is that 'vigilante'?

Agree, the price of a good bike makes it grand theft; nice to know the people we pay for 'peace and good order' can substitute their own values for their charged obligations.........