Thieves getting nailed left and right, part 2

Continuing an awesome week of bike thieves getting smacked around - local bike shop recovers bike, gets photos of the alleged thieves, now asking community to find these guys on Facebook, Myspace, etc. so they can be identified

Don't Steal Bikes Bro: Oak Cliff Bicycle Company recovers bikes, photographs thieves

 Owners of the Oak Cliff Bicycle Company, Jeremy Ordaz and Ean Parsons, foiled a recent bike theft in North Oak Cliff after two men walked into the store purporting to have a bicycle owned by their “grandfather” that they were attempting to sell. 

The men had called the store first and asked if they “ID’d” bikes that were brought in. “I knew something was off when we got the call, so I just told them to bring it up so we could look at it”, recalled Ean. 

Upon entering the shop, Jeremy and Ean instantly recognized the bike as one owned by a nine year old boy who is a regular at the store. Ean immediately took possession of the bike, while Jeremy followed the men out of the store, grabbing the following phone pics as they left (photos are at left)

 The bike had been locked up at an elementary school playground in the King’s Highway neighborhood over a weekend which was fenced in and closed, so beyond stealing, the two may also be at fault for breaking and entering. Within the same week, a laptop and second bicycle have been reported stolen from the area, which means these two could be involved with more neighborhood thefts, so keep a lookout for them and if you know their names, addresses, or facebook/myspace profile, feel free to post in the comments

Thieves getting nailed left and right, part 1

This has been a fantastic week for fighting bike theft :)

Case in point - SeattleCrime: Cops catch alleged thieves they say responsible for at least 30 Cap Hill bike thefts - there is so much awesome in this story

1) A bike shop owner nailing a thief pretending to be an employee ... of that very bike shop
2) A bike thief caught while wearing an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet
3) Dipsh*t thieves also caught with stolen ID'd, credit cards, and a meth pipe

Which makes this story so good. It's like the holy trinity of bike thief stories:

SeattleCrime: Cops catch alleged thieves they say responsible for at least 30 Cap Hill bike thefts 

Bike thefts appears to be down in Seattle ... which may be due to the fact that police busted two alleged prolific Capitol Hill bike thieves last month.
Prosecutors have charged Jack Kondrad with possession and trafficking of stolen property, and police are investigating another man -- Dwight Wiskerchen -- in connection with at least 30 bike thefts "in and around Capitol Hill," according to court records.
It appears SPD’s investigation into the bike thefts came together ... when the owner of Velo Bicycles—on 11th and Pine—called detectives and said that he had noticed a recent increase in bike thefts in the neighborhood.
Velo’s owner, Lloyd Tamura—who himself was recently the victim of bike theft—told police customers had been bringing him “information on their recently stolen bicycles,” police records say.
Tamura told police that a man had recently come in to his store after purchasing what turned out to be a stolen bike in the Central District from a seller who claimed to be a Velo employee.
Police records say the man apparently met with Kondrad at a Safeway on 23rd and Madison, where he paid $200 for a 2007 Trek 1000 bicycle, which police later determined was taken from a Capitol Hill apartment building. The bike’s owner had left the bike chained to tree, police records say.
As police continued their investigation, more reports of stolen bicycles came flooding in.
....
Police say the man then met with Kondrad and a woman—who was wearing an ankle monitor bracelet—at Broadway and Harrison, and took his girlfriend’s bike back.
On August 3rd, SPD bike patrol officers located and arrested Kondrad, who was carrying several credit cards and check books not in his name.
During an interview with police, Kondrad admitted he had sold 30 bikes on Craigslist in the last month, but claimed he had found the bikes “in a nearby park” where “he knew people dumped stolen bikes,” police records say.
Kondrad also identified a second man—Wiskerchen—who was allegedly involved in other bike thefts in the Capitol Hill area, near Seattle University and Seattle Central Community College.
Police learned that Wiskerchen was renting a storage unit at 12th and Howell.
When police contacted the management at the business, an employee told officers he was in the process of kicking Wiskerchen out for repeatedly working on and repairing bikes in a storage area hallway. The employee also told police that Kondrad had previously rented a storage locker in the building.
On September 2nd, police arrested Wiskerchen near his storage unit. He was carrying credit cards and a Virgina Mason hospital ID in someone else’s name, four cell phones, and a meth pipe.
It appears Wiskerchen has not been charged in connection with trafficking stolen bikes. However, earlier this month prosecutors filed burglary charges against Wiskerchen after he allegedly stole a baby carrier from a parking garage at a residential building in Fremont in September.
Wiskerchen is being held at the King County Jail on $30,000 bail. Kondrad was released last month, and appeared in court last week.

Chalking up another recovery

Documenting here for its awesomeness: speedy, straightforward recovery here in Portland

Bike stolen from my office building between 9am - 5pm in the Pearl on Monday (11/29/2010)

Bike purchased in Beaverton around 5:30 pm for 200.00 on Monday (11/29/2010)

The person saw the listing on the SBR and contacted me. 

I did not have the serial on it but was able to describe the bike to the point of no contest.

... (some details ommitted for privacy ) ...

There is a detective assigned to the case.

Got the bike back ... last night (Thursday).  (12/02/2010)

I now have all serial numbers for all my bikes on file! Lesson learned.

Another day, another a***** with previous convistions stealing bikes

I've read this same story over, and over, and over, and over. Ever wonder what kind of a****** steals people's bikes? Well, it's this kind of a******. Popped for crimes again and again and again.

Savannah Metro PD Arrest Man for Bicycle Thefts

SAVANNAH, GA --

Communication between a Downtown Precinct officer on light duty, Downtown Special Operations and a Central Precinct detective has landed a homeless man in jail on several charges.

Jonathan Paris Simpson, 34, was charged with loitering and prowling and possession of tools for the commission of a crime, and served two outstanding warrants for theft by receiving stolen property/theft by deception on Nov. 20 after the detective noticed him looking into houses and recognized him as the subject of warrants issued earlier.

Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Sgt. Armando Tamargo ... observed Simpson walking through back yards in the first block of East 37th Street. After questioning him, he realized Simpson was the subject of outstanding warrants for his arrest from the Downtown Precinct for theft by receiving stolen bicycle and theft by deception. Sgt. Tamargo had been alerted to the warrants earlier in the day at an event for the homeless being held in Forsyth Park. The warrants had been issued earlier after Officer Tarra Kohler Smith in the Downtown Precinct, while scanning pawn shop records, noticed as many as 12 bicycles had been pawned by Simpson since June 2009. Only one of the bicycles had been reported stolen.

About the same time, Special Operations had been alerted by the victim of a bicycle theft, that her stolen bike was locked to a pole at Broughton and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. After staking out the bike for some time, DSO officers were told by a waitress in a nearby restaurant that she had purchased the bicycle for $75 and she identified Simpson as the seller from a photograph.

Simpson also had served time in the mid-1990s for child molestation and aggravated assault.