Can't believe the seller got away with that but I can see it's already been discussed here at length. Most of all, glad you have your bike back but too bad about the extras that are gone =( Cheers Ecke
2010/7/10 John Celio <[email protected]>: > A happy ending to my stolen bike saga! > > When I reported my bike stolen, the police and others suggested checking out > the local weekly swap meet. This morning, a friend picked me up early and > we headed over there. By mistake we ended up missing the parking lot > turn-off and parked in the swap meet area. By pure luck, we parked two rows > down from a big van that was FULL of bikes, and by even more luck my bike > was one of the two dozen he had pulled out and set up in his stall. > > Now, as I mentioned in the original thread, I had never written down the > serial number of my bike, so I couldn't just go claim it. I called the > police, who showed up and said that if I could identify it as the same one > from the description in my police report, they could probably convince the > seller to turn it over. > > The seller was in no mood to cooperate and was very argumentative with me as > I explained every mark and scratch on the bike. He had stripped off almost > all the accessories I'd put on it, but there were clear distinguishing marks > that I had described on the police report that were still evident. > Eventually one officer pulled him aside, and after a few minutes the officer > came back and told me to take the bike, it was mine. He later told me he > had asked the seller for his business license or tax info, neither of which > he had. When the officer said he would be forced to run a check on all the > serial numbers on all the bikes in his van for stolen property, the seller > quickly said he'd let me take the bike if we'd leave, and that was that! > > I wish I'd been smart and written down the serial number, because then the > seller might actually be facing criminal charges. Who knows how many stolen > bikes he's fenced for thieves? I've resolved to keep a record of every > serial number of every item of value that I have, starting with my bike and > camera equipment, so that the next time this happens I will be better > prepared. Live and learn! > > Thanks for reading, > John > > -- > http://www.jacelio.com > http://www.cafepress.com/jacelio > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
