Eastern Canada - Bike dealer caught in sting

A well-known Queen St. W. bike dealer is facing charges after he was arrested at his store last night by plainclothes cops who alleged they watched him direct a man with bolt-cutters to cut the locks off two nearby bikes and steal them.

Igor Kenk, 49, owner of the Bicycle Clinic at Queen St. W. and Strachan Ave., was put in handcuffs just after 7 p.m. by Consts. James Rowe and Craig Meredith, who were watching the corner as part of a "bait-bike" sting.

A man showed up with bolt-cutters to steal a bicycle, police allege.

Both Kenk and Jean Laveau are charged with one count of theft under $5,000, one count of attempted theft under $5,000, and one count of possession of property obtained by crime.

HIGH-THEFT LOCATIONS

Laveau was also charged with possession of burglary tools.

Meredith said he watched from across the street as Kenk allegedly pointed out the two bikes. Kenk then allegedly paid the man money for one of the bikes, Meredith said. The man was allegedly in the process of cutting the lock on a second bike when cops arrested him.

Both were taken to 14 Division station and were slated to appear in bail court this morning at 10 a.m. at Old City Hall.

Coincidentally, officers Rowe and Meredith were part of a three-man team who yesterday planted a so-called bait bike at various high-theft locations downtown.
July 17, 2008

Bike dealer caught in sting
Two charged after cops watch man use bolt-cutters in bike theft

By BRETT CLARKSON, SUN MEDIA

They had planted an unlocked bike at Queen St. W. and Strachan Ave. around 7 p.m. and were watching the corner when their attention was diverted away from the unlocked bait bike to the locked bike which was allegedly stolen.

BIKE OWNER 'ECSTATIC'

Afterwards, the owner of the second bike emerged to find his bike in the care of police and the alleged thief in handcuffs.

"He was ecstatic by what we had done," Rowe said.

Kenk, who has owned the Bicycle Clinic for 16 years, has owned the building at his current 927 Queen St. W. location since 1995, when he purchased it for $85,000.

I bet he's on the street within a day, and back to his old ways. He'll just be more careful about where he is when a bike lock is cut.

This sting seems kind of suspicious to me. I'm not saying that his shop is not notorious for selling stolen bikes but seems strange that he would be so directly involved by being on site to supervise, contract and pay for on the spot which bikes are stolen.

You think I'll get my stolen bike back?

You mean "well known Queen St W. Bike thief is facing charges"...

We can cross our fingers that this time they've finally taken the prick down, as it extends well beyond just the one bike bust. When I went past the shop yesterday there was a police van in front, the sidewalk was taped off with dozens of bikes on the sidewalk, and firemen were unloading bikes from the top floor. Last I heard his entire shop was under investigation, and seeing as it's full of a couple hundred stolen bikes we can only pray he gets shut down permanently.

"and firemen were unloading bikes from the top floor." QUOTE.


?


Regards,
J T

One evening a couple years back I went over to Igors to see if my stolen bike was there.

It was dark, everyone around the store looked shady along with a crack head working the corner. Thinking I might get a shiv in the belly so I high tailed it back home.

Maybe they can shut him down for good. The store was definately a blight in the community.

Cops say the bikes they recovered from Igor will be on display over the weekend -- you need photo id and evidence that it was your bike (serial number, photo of the bike) before you can claim it. PM me for details.

"and firemen were unloading bikes from the top floor." QUOTE.


?


Regards,
J T

I imagine there might have been some issue with accessibility to the top floor or whatever, because there was a fireman inside the building (top floor) passing bikes out the window to another fireman on a ladder. I don't know why the fire department was there, perhaps the police aren't qualified to use a ladder or something (not meant to be insulting, maybe as an occupational health and safety thing)

It was probably considered a fire hazard due to the accessibility issues and thus the fire department was called in.

Four rooms of stolen bikes on display, including my beloved Rocky Mountain.

A little paperwork, a proof of purchase and a picture, and he's mine again. A little grubby, a little rusty and missing one kickstand (this was the commuter bike remember) and one water bottle cage, but all mine.

:)

Four rooms of stolen bikes on display, including my beloved Rocky Mountain.

A little paperwork, a proof of purchase and a picture, and he's mine again. A little grubby, a little rusty and missing one kickstand (this was the commuter bike remember) and one water bottle cage, but all mine.

:)

Heyyyy...congrats! :)

I went today to the police open house but didn't have any luck in finding my stolen bike. On display there were about 200 bikes but talking to one of the policemen there, he claimed that Igor had a total of about 1000 bikes in his shop...so this was only a fraction of his inventory. He was unsure whether they would be putting the other 800 or so on display at some point.

He also mentioned that although they confiscated his entire inventory, only the bikes reclaimed can used against him as evidence for theft and the balance of unclaimed bikes may be returned to Igor.

Let me tell you there were some very nice bikes there that I wouldn't mind owning! Despite the poor odds at finding ones stolen bike, I think it was a worthwhile endeavor to check out the stock if only because the more reclaimed the better chances of conviction...I would think.

Police open house for public viewing to be extended to Monday July 21...

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_24894.aspx

A friend of mine was telling me that it was common knowledge that this guy was not very honest. He had his saddle ripped off his bike right in front of this shop a couple of years ago. I wonder why it took the police so long to catch him.
Gordon

Tally from Igor's stash is up to 1,500 bikes, from his home, from storage garages and from the store.

http://www.torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2008/07/21/6216841-sun.html

:D Don't forget the drugs the police found in the house too!

Its not looking great for Igor, what a shame. :rolleyes::D

Did you see the piece in the Globe on Saturday? "I liked Igor. He was a character. He sold me my stolen bike back for $75"

Anyone want to claim my GT MTB ;)? I bought it before I knew a thing about bikes, and it getting stolen helped me to find a bike I actually liked riding — not a bad thing, in the end. Just wish I were in Toronto so I could use it to help pin more thefts on him. Of course, that's assuming he had something to do with the thefts. My guess is there are a few other bike thieves in Toronto.

Anyone want to claim my GT MTB ;)? I bought it before I knew a thing about bikes, and it getting stolen helped me to find a bike I actually liked riding — not a bad thing, in the end. Just wish I were in Toronto so I could use it to help pin more thefts on him. Of course, that's assuming he had something to do with the thefts. My guess is there are a few other bike thieves in Toronto.
Send me the serial number and I'll be glad to pick it up for you :D
Speaking of which, I really ought to record the serial numbers and photograph my bikes.

At the warehouse, Saharla Ali, 17, was on the books. Ali's role was taking down serial numbers and the make and model of each bike. It took her about five hours to log the information for about 300 bikes.

Earlier in the day, the warehouse was incredibly cramped, with only one narrow area for the Yipis to walk, she said. In between taking down numbers, Ali rhymed off the names of medium to high-end bikes she'd watched being pulled from the tangled mess. "I've been doing it a lot, so now I know."

Owners slow to show up as bikes sorted (http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/465528)

Do you think there'll eventually be a police auction? How do you find out about police auctions? Can we keep this space updated on that possibility?

I'm not surprised by the low-ish number of claims. How many people have both serial number and a photo? How many already gave up on the bikes and got replacements? There's been rumblings about Montreal-Toronto inter-city stolen bike trade; how many bikes are actually from outside the area?

Do to Igor Kenk what they did to horse thieves in the old west, hang em high!

Do you think there'll eventually be a police auction? How do you find out about police auctions? Can we keep this space updated on that possibility?

+10

So three more garages full of bikes were seized by the police today. The count prior to todays stash was 2000 bikes, so maybe the total might yield something like 3000 bikes?

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/466028

The police open house this past weekend only had about 220 bikes on display, so this was only a small fraction of the seized inventory. I believe that only something like 30 bikes were claimed by their rightful owners as a result of the open house this weekend. The turnout to view the line-up was apparently not so impressive, hence the low recovery rate.

Apparently there will be another public viewing this Friday and Saturday and so imagine that a few more dozen bikes might get claimed this time around as well. Wouldn't it be much more effective for police to take snap shots of each bike and post them on a website, so that viewers could see the stock all at once? Victims could then contact police with serial number and/or photo of their bikes and police could then confirm on deny the claim.

Because of the possibility that the bikes are inter-city traded (as suggested by esaunders), internet posting would enable multi city viewings.

Strangely enough Igor’s wife is Juilliard School graduate and a world class pianist!

This whole story is just getting odder and odder. We're at 2,500 bikes, and still counting, and only 55 have been returned to their owners. Much of the stuff they are finding in the garages are heavily cannibalized perhaps little more than frames. And then there are the piles of wheels and other parts.

http://www.torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2008/07/24/6248296-sun.html

My bother had a bike stolen a few years back, but he's got no serial number, no receipt and no photos, so...
I wouldn't be surprised if many others are in a similar situation.

I'm eagerly waiting for an auction.

I'm eagerly waiting for an auction.

I was told by a policeman at last weekends open house that it may be that only bikes claimed and confirmed stolen will be returned to their rightful owners and balance may be returned to Igor, as proof of theft is required for each bike. So don't put too much hope in an auction.

:( You just dashed all my high hopes.
But, all the same, thats for the info.

That one seems really odd. If he's found guilty of theft and all the other charges, I'd assume cops have the right to confiscate the bikes and auction them off.

But I'm not a lawyer. What do I know?

More sessions this weekend and next week to identify stolen bikes and claim them, with slightly laxer rules for getting your property back:

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20080725/bike_return_080725/20080725/?hub=TorontoNewHome

Good luck

That bag of crap stole my FCR1 on May 25th (day after my bday) i just got my frame back yesterday with the crankset and busted RD still attached...i've got some damage on my rear triangle (posted pics on the frame builders subforum for help)

If you're wondering what a recovered "bike" looks like, this is it

ps: you all should have seen the number of Bianchis in that warehouse, unreal

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3140/2723097148_48bce1f811.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3198/2722274733_8131b6462c.jpg?v=0