Hey! Look! Two more idiots nailed on Craigslist

Remember folks: If your bike gets stolen, keep checking Craigslist. From "Police Recover High-End Bikes":

Santa Rosa Junior College student Nica Poznanovich was heartbroken when she came out of class last Wednesday and found her prized racing bike gone...But she was back in the saddle Tuesday after Santa Rosa police broke up an alleged theft ring that was advertising stolen bikes on Craigslist.

Her $2,000 Bianchi bicycle was part of a cache of bikes recovered Tuesday when police arrested two Santa Rosa men and searched a home and storage unit.

Santa Rosa and SRJC police investigating a recent rash of bike thefts learned that someone was selling the stolen property on Craigslist, according to Santa Roa Police Sgt. Lisa Banayat... undercover detectives made arrangements to buy one of the advertised bikes and met Tuesday with two men, who also brought a second stolen bike, Banayat said.

Police arrested Mark Allen Jensen, 20, and Donald Andrew Bean, 18, both of Santa Rosa, on felony charges of possessing stolen property...Detectives then searched a home on Earle Street and a storage unit on Santa Rosa Avenue, finding more bikes and bike parts related to 14 different theft cases.

I can't tell you how common this is becoming - so I say again - if your bike gets stolen, keep on Craigslist. There are even Craigslist scanning tools like NotifyWire that will even do it for you, and send you a text message when it matches your searches.

Also, don't forget to check Craigslist for towns that are within a day's drive of your own - I have dozens of cases over at the SBR where people were stealing bikes in, say, Seattle, and then driving them down to Portland to sell. So expand your searches.

Another Craigslist idiot nailed.

.... and the theif's ad - including his phone number - is still up on Craigslist. Woohoo!

From "Craigslist Ad Leads Bellingham Police To Alleged Bike Thieves"

BELLINGHAM — Two Bellingham men were arrested Thursday, May 7, after police discovered the pair had been stealing bicycles and selling them on Craigslist.

The investigation began when a woman, whose mountain bike had been stolen, told Bellingham Police she thought she saw the bicycle for sale on Craigslist, said Mark Young, police spokesman. An officer went to the Web site, tracked down the listing and ... called the phone number provided in the listing and set up a time with the seller to buy the bike.

The officer drove an unmarked patrol car to a local shopping center where he met Jeremy Randall Schuitema, 22, who came to the meeting riding the bike, Young said. The officer checked the serial number, which matched that of the woman’s missing mountain bike.

Schuitema was arrested. Further investigation led police to take David Jordan McDonough, 19, into custody as well, Young said. The pair eventually led police to their apartment where five other stolen bikes were found. All of the bikes were impounded as evidence.

I, personally like how this idiot's Craigslist ad - including his phone number - is still online. Way to go, genius.

You also have to love this idiot's added linguistic flair:

Bike is SICK! In great condition and has nothing wrong with it, im only selling cause i have a baby on the way and need the money

Yeah. You go, winner.

Here's an interesting blip

Here's an interesting blip, from "Allston man stole bikes, locked them to Cambridge parking meters"

... detectives believe Cartagena used bolt cutters to steal the bicycles off city streets and then moved the bikes to other locations, locking them to meters and street signs with his own bike locks while he waited to sell the stolen goods.

...detectives allegedly noticed Cartagena had two sets of key rings with numerous keys on them, according to reports.... Cartagena gave police the key rings and Detective Mui used the keys to open another lock on a bike tied to a street sign in the area of Hovey and Magnolia avenues... Detective Mui told the Chronicle he walked around the area with Cartagena’s keys for several hours and was able to unlock nine more bikes.

Note the use of stash/drop spots and the fact that this guy had multiple keys and bolt cutters. There's actually a quick blip in the video that contains a shot of this guy's uber-keyring.

The multiple-keys thing doesn't pop up that often, but it would be worth looking into lock variation among manufacturers, i.e. how effective this actually is. If it were, the guy wouldn't need the bolt cutters.

Also, here's a video from wickedlocal.com:

Cambridge detectives bust thief with 12 high-end bikes from Erin Smith on Vimeo.