Recovering stolen bike from Craigslist?

[surfbug77]

I don't reside in Portland but came across your helpful site and wanted to get some advice. On Sunday my husband's mountain bike was stolen and on Tuesday the guy who stole it listed it (parting it out) on Craigslist. We reported all of this to police, both on Sunday and then with the new info. on Tuesday. We've been in contact with the guy through an alias email and he has given us his name, address and phone number. However, the bike was stolen in City A and the guy lives in City B. City B won't do anything about it and it's been difficult to get the guy to bring the frame back to City A where the police are willing to do an arrest if it's the bike.

The other problem is that my husband doesn't have the VIN #. He's contacted the bike shop and they cannot find the record. He's going there tomorrow to look through their files. The bike frame does have three distinguishable marks on it, we have photos of the bike and it matches the photos in the Craigslist ad. With that being said, it is probably unlikely that we have a case without the VIN #.

So, any ideas on how to proceed? We thought about meeting the guy, looking at the frame and the parts and then confronting him but that could lead to violence. (Not on my husband's part, he hates the guy but doesn't want to inflict physical harm) What sucks is that this guy has a lot of parts/frames for sale on Craigslist.

[Rixtir]

1) Did you file a stolen bike report with the police?

2) You say you have photos; do they show the distinguishing marks?

3) Do you have other documentary evidence of ownership (sales receipt, repair receipts, insurance coverage, video footage, or anything else you can think of)?

Finally, what exactly did the police in city B say when they refused to help?





PS-- I'm PMing you.

[brock]

...he has given us his name, address and phone number...

...We thought about meeting the guy, looking at the frame and the parts and then confronting him but that could lead to violence. (Not on my husband's part, he hates the guy but doesn't want to inflict physical harm) What sucks is that this guy has a lot of parts/frames for sale on Craigslist.

How 'bout you just post it all back to CL? Let others take care of the violence for you... :)

I'm joking, of course, because you never know, maybe it's not your bike. But then again if you're sure it is and the police will not help...