I described the bike and every detail about it to the cops, then furnished pics which proved it was mine. That part was easy. The only reason they made me do that was because i didn't know the serial number.

As to the missing stuff, the Nashbar shopping panniers cost me $20 5 years ago and they were falling apart. No big loss there. The $10 trailer hitch was a month old and is the most annoying part but hey, I got the bike back which I didn't really think would happen. I'm not going bankrupt or getting pissed over $10.

When the cop asked him if he did it he admitted to taking it off my porch and admitted he made a bad choice.

As to going after the guy in court, it's simply not worth my time. More importantly, he got what was coming to him anyway and he knows it. He was a career homeless person, and was using the bike as his transportation. Honestly, had he knocked on my door that day and asked me if he could have the bike I would have given it too him. He made the wrong choice. Karma is a *****.

Beating someone up over a beat up old rusty bicycle who just stole it to get by isn't my style. The worst part about it was the sense of violation with him entering our premises in the middle of the day and doing as he pleased, but as has been noted he's already paying for that one way or the other.

I forgive him. I told the cop that had brought my bike back, if the guy does get out of jail and comes around again and needs a bike, I will give him one.

If the guy was aggressive, unrepentant and didn't take accountability for his actions this would all be different.