BUSTED! PPB Catches Roubaix Theif

[jbeattie]

When my Roubaix got stolen out of my garage (left the door open at night), I reported it to Portland Police Bureau as well as these "stolen bike" websites including Bike Index. Huge shout-out to BI for finding my bike on the meth-head sales site, OfferUp. BI gave me a heads up; I communicated with the seller, looked at the posted pictures and confirmed it was mine. BI had already looped-in PPB. I get a call from the officer today who tells me that he has made a date with the seller, and next thing I know, the bike is back. It was returned to me today by the PPB officer who busted the seller. He came rolling down the street in front of my building, on a bike with the Roubaix rolling along side. Totally awesome.

It's kind of beat up with stuff missing -- like the rear hydraulic disc. Why that? The housing is just cut, and the brake is gone. So are the fenders and some other stuff. The PPB busted the seller who was a tweaker carrying meth and a back-pack filled with stolen electronics. The amazing part to me is that officer just handed me the bike. It didn't go into an evidence locker. Then he took my picture for a Twitter feed (PPB is really cracking down on bike thieves and posting their successes), and then gave me a bunch of stickers to put on my other bikes to register them. I got my bike back and a bunch of PPB swag. I'm going to tell my insurer that it can have the bike if it wants. I've got too many, although I did pay a big deductible.

Anyway, kudos to PPB and Bike Index.

-- Jay Beattie.

[AMuzi]

Unusually attentive PD you have there! Cheery story as far
as it goes.

The part about the miscreant being hanged by his heels and
beaten with a slime tube got snipped I think.


--
Andrew Muzi
<www.yellowjersey.org/>
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

[Frank Krygowski]

Congratulations!

Perhaps I told our bike recovery story, about the only bike we ever had
stolen. But here it is (again?):

We were living in a different state then, last house on a cul-de-sac. No
garage, just a carport. Our son was told to always lock his Huffy
10-speed with a chain and combination lock we had out there.

One day the bike was gone. Turned out he had just wrapped the chain
around the cranks, not through the frame. (Hey, he was 11 years old.)
The chain was there, the lock was locked but the bike was gone.

Much sadness and regret for a day or two. Then a young girl, maybe 8
years old, showed up with the bike and her abashed younger brother in
tow. They lived in the, um, low-income neighborhood just beyond our
cul-de-sac. The girl said "I'm making my brother give your bike back. I
told him 'You can't steal _that_ bike! That's a _nice_ bike!'"

--
- Frank Krygowski

[Andre Jute]

Happy for you, man.

PPB compares favorably with the cops in Eugene who refuse to investigate property crimes.

AJ

[avag...@gmail.com]

Hoot !

unreal ? for JB no less.

I hit the Sunday paper jackpot waited n gave $ to the machine man suffering a mild stroke

[jbeattie]

I contributed $100 to Bike Index. By the way, it's f****** amazing what a meth-head will do to a bike for no particular reason. A chain plate is bent off, the rear disc is gone, the hose is cut at the handlebars, pedals long gone, rear rim is cracked because someone wound up the spoke tension. They jammed the post into the frame, but I don't think it hurt the seat tube. The cranks are all scratched up. The bike has a different seat. I don't know what to do about the rear wheel. It's an OE rim. Finding something with the same ERD is going to be a problem. My son noticed that the bar tape smells like cigarette smoke and stale beer -- like the inside of an old tavern.

-- Jay Beattie.