Portland cop nabs brazen bike thief when he pauses to ponder stealing a third bike

The Portland bike thieves are industrious - carrying around multiple lock keys, stashing stolen bikes all over town, and stopping to steal bikes ... even when they are being pursued by the police :

From: Portland cop nabs brazen bike thief when he pauses to ponder stealing a third bike

Eric Venturini and his girlfriend had just left the Portland Farmers Market when they discovered that his black-white-and-blue Fuji Team road bike had been stolen from a rack on the Portland State University campus.

His girlfriend's bike was still there, so Venturini decided he'd ride it home ...Venturini was putting on his bike cleats when he saw a man ride by on his $1,750 bike.

"My girlfriend was like, 'Oh my god. There's your bike!' " Venturini recalled. "I took off my cleats and ended up running after him with my socks on."

Venturini chased the thief across Southwest Broadway.

"I was pretty angry. I grabbed him..." Venturini recalled.

The thief relinquished the bike and immediately stole another one -- cutting the cable off a $1,000 black Marin cycle from another rack and riding away.

Venturini ...and his friends couldn't believe what they were seeing. They flagged down Central Precinct Sgt. Christopher Davis' patrol car at
Southwest Broadway and Harrison Street to report the brazen thief.

Davis got out and ran after the suspect, but it was slow going, dodging the crowds at the farmers market as the thief pedaled away.

"And then he stopped," Davis said.

Even with police on his tail, the suspect had paused to check out another bicycle locked to a rack with a thin cable. "He was studying this Specialized Mountain Bike," Davis said.

That allowed the sergeant to catch up and arrest the suspect at 1:52 p.m. Sept. 18, at Southwest Park Avenue and Mill Street.

Jason Lane Kamna, 29, was indicted this week on first-degree theft, and second-degree theft charges. He pleaded not guilty.

Davis said he found Kamna's pockets stuffed with bike gear. He pulled out several bike cables, about 10 keys that fit different bike locks, a stash of bike headlights, as well as a pair of 6 inch cable cutters.

...

Typically, the thieves steal and stash the bicycles, then sell them on Craigslist.

The sergeant presumes Kamna was stashing a number of stolen bicycles around town as well.  "He took us to where there were a couple of other ones. He had two parked in the Pearl, just locked to a park bench with a U-lock, that he apparently had stolen from around REI."

The moral of the story, Davis says: "Always use a U-lock. They're not fail-safe, but cables are easily defeated."