Originally Posted by
_ForceD_
Maybe the five bikes in the OP were being used/donated like the bike in this story...
CRANSTON
Police seek help finding man who stole veteran’s bike
By Brian Amaral Providence Journal Staff Writer
Cranston police are asking for the public’s help in identifying a man they say stole a military veteran’s bike that she needs for work.
The victim had gotten the blue Schwinn from nonprofit group Operation Stand Down Rhode Island. It was her only means of getting around, police and the group said. Police released a surveillance footage that they said shows the thief carrying off the vet’s bike on Cranston Street.
Erik Wallin, the executive director of the nonprofit, said they’d given the bike to Janice Larrivee as part of its “Pedals for Patriots” program. The seven-year veteran of the U.S. Army, honorably discharged in 1981, used it to get back and forth from work, Wallin said. It was stolen about five weeks ago, he said.
Larrivee has since used her own funds to buy a new bike, and on Wednesday, the group will present her with a check to reimburse her for the cost of the bike, as well as a gift card for a new helmet and lock, Wallin said. Larrivee became homeless in 2012, and stayed at the Holly Charette House for female veterans in Johnston, Wallin said. She later moved to her own apartment and now works cleaning houses and businesses, Wallin said.
The “Pedals for Patriots” program has collected dozens of lightly used bikes since March 2017 and given them to veterans who need them for transportation, including the one that was stolen from Larrivee, Wallin said.
Police asked anyone with information to contact Detective Sal Sanchez at
(401) 477-5141 or at the department’s main number,
(401) 942-2211.
CRANSTON
Army vet back on the saddle as police seek bicycle thief
By Brian Amaral Journal Staff Writer
Cranston police are seeking this man, who they say stole Army veteran Janice Larrivee’s bike. Anyone with information about the suspect is asked to call Detective Sal Sanchez at
(401) 477-5141. (CRANSTON POLICE
DEPARTMENT)
Janice Larrivee, of Cranston, rides the new bike that Operation Stand Down reimbursed her for after hers was stolen six weeks ago. [THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / STEVE SZYDLOWSKI]
About five weeks ago, Army veteran Janice Larrivee, 64, stopped at a convenience store on a warm day in Cranston to get a soda, leaving her bike outside for the quick trip.
When she finished waiting in a longer-than-expected line for her errand, the bike was gone. But it wasn’t just any bike. It was one that she got for free from a veterans support organization, and one that she depended on for her everyday life and her work as a house cleaner.
“I was shocked,” Larrivee said in a phone interview Wednesday. “I mean, I didn’t think the neighborhood was that bad.”
Now, the police are looking for a suspect, and they have a pretty clear photograph of the larceny suspect.
Meanwhile, Larrivee now has a new bike, and the organization that gave her the first one has made her whole. In a meeting Wednesday at Operation Stand Down Rhode Island’s offices in Johnston,
the organization presented her with money and a gift card to make up for the money she spent on a replacement bike at Walmart, plus a helmet and a “very strong” lock that Larrivee said she’ll make sure to use all the time in the future.
“They’ve been wonderful to me and the other veterans,” Larrivee said of the organization that helped her get back on her feet a few years ago when she had housing troubles. “They have a lot of services.”
Larrivee said she served in the Finance Corps of the Army, working as a cashier. She was honorably discharged in 1981.
Erick Wallin, the group’s executive director, said he found out about Larrivee’s troubles when he saw it in the news after Cranston police put out a request for witnesses to come forward. Based on the location, he suspected it was Larrivee, so he reached out to help her again.
“It highlights that many of our veterans are struggling, working, but not able to make ends meet easily, and continue to need some help,” Wallin said. “We owe it to them for the service they’ve given in the past.”
The free bike program has provided dozens of bikes to veterans since it began, Wallin said. Larrivee was one of the first in the program started by outreach director Brian Sullivan, who had firsthand experience at what veterans need at a homelessness clinic. But “Pedals for Patriots” is not supported by any federal grant program, so anyone with a bike in working order that they don’t want anymore can consider donating it instead of just leaving it outside or putting it in a landfill, Wallin said.
Maj. Todd Patalano of the Cranston Police Department said Wednesday that the investigation is ongoing but hasn’t made progress in identifying a suspect. They’ll keep trying to circulate the surveillance footage showing a man approaching the bike, taking several bags off the handlebars and pushing the bike away from the scene.
“This is a unique situation where someone depends on that bike for their means of transportation,” Patalano said.
Larrivee, meanwhile, says if the police catch the person and get her old bike back, she’ll give it back to Operation Stand Down for another veteran.
“I really hope this helps Operation Stand Down,” Larrivee said. “They’ve helped me so much and other veterans so much.”
—
bamaral@providence-journal.com
(401) 277-7615
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