Stealing a bike is bad enough; but stealing an artistic tall bike from a well-known local street performer and personality is a whole nother story.
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Among the many disturbing bike theft trends I hear about these days are the growing number of allegations about "chop shops" or organized bike theft rings. I've been flagging reader emails about these for several months now. Below are a few examples of what I've heard just since this past July...
Reader Carmen R.:
I work off Front Ave over by the Fremont Bridge.
For some time now we have been documenting what we believe to be a bike theft ring. A very amateur video has been taken (not much clarity) and calls have been made to the police. The police show up 20 or so minutes or so later, walk around the premises we've identified and pretty much just drive away. This is very disheartening to me as I commute daily and have 3 bikes stolen over the years.
What happens is a guy rides up across the street handling another bike, rides over to the storage and/or freight containers across the street. Said bike disappears inside. They have this area very secure and boarded up. Only once do we feel we saw an exchange go down with a pick-up retrieving some bikes from the vicinity. We have not been quick enough to photograph this and it would seem pretty obvious if we pursued them out right.
Last week the Portland police arrested Robert Charles Dady, who they referred to as a "prolific bicycle thief." We now know more details about one piece of the case that helped make that arrest possible.
Kevin Collier was one of Dady's victims. His bike was stolen on the night of July 25th from right out in front of 24HR Fitness in the Pearl District. Collier did not take the theft lying down. He committed himself to catching the person responsible. And one week later, he did. As it turned out, his bike was stolen by a team that included Dady (who Collier refers to as "Santa Claus") and another man.
Here's Collier's story of how he helped lead the Portland police to this notorious bike thief.
"I had my bike stolen from the Pearl 24 HR Fitness on July 25th where it was locked up in the bike parking area close to the front door. I filed an online Portland Police Bureau report, a 24 Hour Fitness incident report, and I started checking Craig's List the next day. I also began analyzing biking patterns of every rider that I saw, taking in information, and eye-balling if my bike was on the streets.
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The world of bike theft continues to both fascinate and deplore us. It seems like just as innovation and technology promises better bike theft prevention and recovery tools, thieves are becoming more brazen, devious, and numerous.
In our ongoing quest to arm you with as much knowledge about bike theft as possible, we wanted to share the experiences of two readers. Both of these bike theft tactics where new to me, so I figured they were worth passing along.
The first is from a reader named Chris:
I used to have a roommate that was a complete moron and "accidentally" stole a bike:
He was in Eugene, OR and some guy on the sidewalk asked, as he was walking by, if he wanted to buy this Gary Fisher MTB for $40. He gave the guy $40, and the guy was gone before he realized that the bike was still locked to a bike rack. So, he went home to get some bolt cutters and returned to remove the lock and take his new bike home. It wasn't until he got home that he had to be told by friends and family that he was swindled and just stole someones bike... I didn't know him when he did this, but he still held onto a lot of guilt from this experience... doesn't make him any less of an idiot, though.
Portland Police have arrested a man they've connected to several bicycle thefts in downtown Portland. 56-year-old Robert Charles Dady was booked into jail by Central Precinct on Tuesday after an extensive investigation by officers with the PPB's Neighborhood Response Team.
Here's more from the police statement:
This investigation began on September 4, 2013, when a victim of a bike theft called the Portland Police after having seen a suspect riding his stolen bicycle, which had been taken from the 24 Hour Fitness located in the Pearl District.
Over the past few weeks, NRT officers worked with employees at the 24 Hour Fitness Pearl District location, Powell's Books on West Burnside Street, and the World Trade Center in Downtown Portland. Each location had seen an unusual rise in bike thefts.
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Beatrice, the battered blue bike stolen from outside the Portland Building last week, is back in the hands of her owner, Portland Bureau of Transportation Director Leah Treat.
Treat broke the news herself on Twitter, early this afternoon:
The bike that introduced Portland transportation director Leah Treat to pedal commuting can't catch a break: It's now been stolen once from each of the three cities where she's worked.
Its most recent swipe came some time Thursday night, when Treat cable-locked her blue Breezer Greenway in the loggia outside day care entrance at the Portland Building, where she works.
"Because I had a ton of meetings that night at various places around town, I ended up leaving her overnight," Treat, who joined the bureau in July, wrote in an email Monday. "I now know that wasn't such a smart thing to do."
The bike, which she's named Beatrice, has a white seat, white grips, black fenders and a "LaSalle" parking permit on the front fender.
Because we can never get enough of hearing about how people get their stolen bikes back, we present you two more stories of stolen bike recovery success.
But before getting into some good news, we have some not-so-good news about our Stolen Bike Listings. Due to a software issue that's causing duplicate postings, I've decided to disable the listings until we can get it fixed. Sorry about that. Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming...
Our first story comes from Vancouver resident Branden Shelby. You might recall that Branden was the subject of one of our Ride Alongs back in April. A few months after our story, the same bike he rode with me that morning, a LeMond Poprad, was stolen from his side yard. Branden had put a lot of love into his bike, upgrading it over the years with a green Brooks saddle, green BMX pedals, and other nice touches. Unfortunately, he posted it to our Stolen Bike Listings on July 23rd with a $100 reward. (more...)
Metropolis Cycle Repair (2249 N Williams Ave) was broken into last night, becoming just the latest in a long and steady stream of bike shop burglaries.
According to shop owner Nathan Roll, thieves took four bikes and "a few thousand dollars in tools and merchandise." The Police have been at the store all morning to assess the damage and document the crime.
Roll has emailed all the other shops in town to keep an eye out for the merchandise and he's hoping the larger community will help out too. He emailed us a list of the products that were stolen: (more...)
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