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07-12-06, 03:11 PM
My friends left there garage open and – no surprise – their bikes where stolen. They lamented the loss of their bikes and had pretty much figured that the bikes where gone. One of the bikes in question was a 1400 dollar Bianchi Axis.
They filed a police report. The officer that came out was friendly as he took down the needed information. I was there at the time and asked if there had been any other bike thefts in the area and he said no that these were the only ones.
Later that night while perusing Craig’s list we found that there had indeed been other bikes stolen just a block away. So they wrote the poster and asked that they report the thefts to the police. While on Craig’s list we also posted the particulars about the bikes.
When the owner got home the next day she had an email from the LBS, (about 3 blocks away), saying get down here now, “we have your Bianchi, a crack head is trying to sell it for 40 bucks”!
Well the woman ran down there and found that several police were there along with the crack head and the bike. The LBS had snapped the presta valve to keep him there. The police where not so easily convinced that the bike belonged to the woman since she did not have the serial number. She did have some pretty distinguishing details like there is a light bracket with no light, the name on the seat, the messed up handlebar tape and so on. The cops finally gave in and gave her the bike and eventually ran the dude in for theft.
One of the cops had been in the store a week before and had complained about the price of bikes and was according to the LBS employee, somewhat verbally abusive. The same officer was in charge of the paperwork and who reluctantly agreed to give the bike to the woman.
So a court date was set. The cop had written one name down from the LBS employees as a witness and that person did not show up at court. So they subpoenaed him. Today is the court date and we will see how this all turns out.
They filed a police report. The officer that came out was friendly as he took down the needed information. I was there at the time and asked if there had been any other bike thefts in the area and he said no that these were the only ones.
Later that night while perusing Craig’s list we found that there had indeed been other bikes stolen just a block away. So they wrote the poster and asked that they report the thefts to the police. While on Craig’s list we also posted the particulars about the bikes.
When the owner got home the next day she had an email from the LBS, (about 3 blocks away), saying get down here now, “we have your Bianchi, a crack head is trying to sell it for 40 bucks”!
Well the woman ran down there and found that several police were there along with the crack head and the bike. The LBS had snapped the presta valve to keep him there. The police where not so easily convinced that the bike belonged to the woman since she did not have the serial number. She did have some pretty distinguishing details like there is a light bracket with no light, the name on the seat, the messed up handlebar tape and so on. The cops finally gave in and gave her the bike and eventually ran the dude in for theft.
One of the cops had been in the store a week before and had complained about the price of bikes and was according to the LBS employee, somewhat verbally abusive. The same officer was in charge of the paperwork and who reluctantly agreed to give the bike to the woman.
So a court date was set. The cop had written one name down from the LBS employees as a witness and that person did not show up at court. So they subpoenaed him. Today is the court date and we will see how this all turns out.