I was going to write up a big post today about stolen bikes and bike thefts and everything but I’ve changed my mind. I think there was just too much to recap fully so I’ll just give a basic overview of the events leading up to this post.
Some craigslist posts brought to light a sketchy ebay seller in the local area. Some fine detective work by a number of members of the DC cycling community managed to link this stolen bike to the original owner and the police were notified. The bike was recovered at a pawn shop on 14th St. NW and there is talk that more will be done on this; prosecution being the idea.
In the meantime, more local members of the cycling community were able to identify a couple more of the bikes being sold by the same individual on ebay and hopefully at this point at least 2 more bikes have been recovered and noted in the case against the pawn shop owner.
Overall this is excellent news; most notably that a handful of people are being reunited with their stolen rides but also possibly even more exciting to the rest of us, the police seem to be taking on an active role in this situation and hopefully at least one stolen bike “dealer” will be “dealt” with. After the contact number for the officer handling the case of the first stolen bike was passed around on multiple discussion boards and listservs it seems he’s received a number of calls from people to report their stolen bikes. He’s requested reposts to ask people not to call him but to report directly to the local district where the bike was stolen.
Unfortunately, my experience with reporting a stolen bike did not even yield a case number much less the returned phone call I was promised.
Tonight, I will cheers to recovered property and the possibility of prosecution against the individual(s) involved. Oh and a truly caring and active community of cyclists; whether racers, commuters, messengers or just general bike riders; the support, help and cooperation that came out of this was truly amazing on all sides and I’d like to thank everyone who did what they could to try and get this situation figured out.
Some craigslist posts brought to light a sketchy ebay seller in the local area. Some fine detective work by a number of members of the DC cycling community managed to link this stolen bike to the original owner and the police were notified. The bike was recovered at a pawn shop on 14th St. NW and there is talk that more will be done on this; prosecution being the idea.
In the meantime, more local members of the cycling community were able to identify a couple more of the bikes being sold by the same individual on ebay and hopefully at this point at least 2 more bikes have been recovered and noted in the case against the pawn shop owner.
Overall this is excellent news; most notably that a handful of people are being reunited with their stolen rides but also possibly even more exciting to the rest of us, the police seem to be taking on an active role in this situation and hopefully at least one stolen bike “dealer” will be “dealt” with. After the contact number for the officer handling the case of the first stolen bike was passed around on multiple discussion boards and listservs it seems he’s received a number of calls from people to report their stolen bikes. He’s requested reposts to ask people not to call him but to report directly to the local district where the bike was stolen.
Unfortunately, my experience with reporting a stolen bike did not even yield a case number much less the returned phone call I was promised.
Tonight, I will cheers to recovered property and the possibility of prosecution against the individual(s) involved. Oh and a truly caring and active community of cyclists; whether racers, commuters, messengers or just general bike riders; the support, help and cooperation that came out of this was truly amazing on all sides and I’d like to thank everyone who did what they could to try and get this situation figured out.
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