[philteach]

I saw this on Craig's List


This thief has been sighted with my bike 4 times since Sun when it was stolen, read further as you may have seen him!

Please call 911 for officer assistance and myself (Josh @ 651-5455) if you see this suspect with the stolen bike noted below. Please do not tip him off you know he is in possession of stolen property! Reward offered.

Crime:
On 7/20 (Sunday) at approximately 1:15pm the suspect jumped over my locked 6’ privacy fence from the alley, walked all the way up to my back door, and stole my Giant Anthem 1 bike that was on my back patio while myself and family were home. He left his bike in the alley. This was in the area of Malvern/Monument.

Description of suspect (based on review of Lowe’s surveillance video & input from others who have seen the suspect):
- White male with tan skin
- Height 5'7"
- Weight approximately 170lbs (slightly overweight in midsection)
- Dirty blonde hair color that is ear length
- Very bad teeth
- Approximate age in the mid 20’s but could be slightly older/younger
- Clothing:
- Black high tops with 3 white stripes towards the front and outside of the shoes. Also, he has worn a hole through the bottom from riding the bike with my clipless pedals.
- Grey oversized t-shirt
- Jeans that are worn rolled up tight below the knees
- White socks worn pulled up to the mid calf
- Black sunglasses hanging from neck of oversized t-shirt
- Has been observed with bike gloves
- No helmet
- Generally speaking a very dirty/messy unkempt looking individual

Description of Bike:

Attached is a stock picture of the bike for reference. It’s a full suspension Giant Anthem 1 that is blue and silver with a white Fox fork. The seat post and handlebars are black and say “Race Face” on them. Mine is identical to the picture except I have zip-tied (white zip ties) clear plastic flexible tubing around the frame tube directly below the chain (unless it has been removed), to keep the chain from chipping the frame. The bike was purchased at Rowlett's and the Rowlett's sticker is on the rear base of the seat post downtube.

Sightings of the bike and suspect:

- 7/20 (Sunday) approximately 1:15 bike stolen
- 7/20 (Sunday) mid-afternoon suspect observed with bike at Lowes at 1640 Broad St. by Lowes employee. He was out front bragging about how much the bike was worth to people hanging around the front door.
- 7/21 (Monday) early afternoon suspect again observed inside Lowes at 1640 Broad St by Lowes security…suspect was captured on video walking the bike through the store but was not apprehended as Lowe’s employees were not aware the bike was stolen, but suspected so.
- 7/22 (Tuesday) at approximately 1PM suspect visited Recycles bike shop on Cary street (between Mulberry and Robinson) and had them replace my clipless pedals with regular plastic platform pedals. Employees were not aware the bike was stolen until 15min after the suspect left, but they were suspicious.
- 7/22 (Tuesday) suspect ate dinner at River City Diner at 17th and Main St. at 8PM and had bike chained up out front of the restaurant. He tried to pay with a gift card with no balance and ended up leaving w/o paying for the meal.

He will turn up again! It is very likely he lives in the fan. In all of the sightings above it was confirmed he had my bike and was described the same by all who have come in contact with the suspect. Obviously he is not worried about being seen with the bike and intends to continue using it. Please forward this information to anyone that you think might be in a position to help, as I feel with your help it's possible to get this guy. Thanks to all that have called me and provided information thus far!

Also, because of the value of the bike, please note this theft qualifies as grand larceny under VA law and detective Jack Larry (646-1647), now assigned to the case, has instructed me or anyone that sees him with the bike to call 911 for officer assistance to get the suspect apprehended and the case resolved. You can reference the police case number 200807200339 when calling 911. Please call me 2nd at 651-5455. I will be happy to put some reward $ in the pocket of whoever can help grab this guy. Thank you all for your help!!

[lordworm2]

I saw this guy on (I think) Sunday afternoon heading west on the 3000 block of Cary St. He was riding sort of fast on the sidewalk. He looked like a 19-2? year old redneck kid. I remember the white fork but didn't think much of it. I am in the area quite a bit and will keep an eye out. I'll pass the word on to my running buddies, I think you have a good chance of finding this guy. good luck..

[bikewright]

I find that the description of the suspect is very detailed. Most eyewitness statements are not that detail.

Very bad teeth

Also, he has worn a hole through the bottom from riding the bike with my clipless pedals.

How would you know to check the Lowe's surveillance video? "Lowe’s employees were not aware the bike was stolen, but suspected so." Did the Vic work at Lowe's? Or knew and employe that work there?

[UbberBikeGoober]

Yeah, Josh was in yesterday or the day prior and we were trying to help out.
This just sucks!

[clbrosch]

I find that the description of the suspect is very detailed. Most eyewitness statements are not that detail.

Very bad teeth

Also, he has worn a hole through the bottom from riding the bike with my clipless pedals.

How would you know to check the Lowe's surveillance video? "Lowe’s employees were not aware the bike was stolen, but suspected so." Did the Vic work at Lowe's? Or knew and employe that work there?

"Description of suspect (based on review of Lowe’s surveillance video & input from others who have seen the suspect):"

not too hard to be so descriptive with mulitiple sightings and video

[mountainspider]

Pretty sure I saw him on the commute this morning, unfortunately didn't see the post until just now.

He was riding up Horsepen toward Monument, where Horsepen crosses Broad. I was waiting at in line at the light to cross Broad. Thought his bike looked a little unusual for a morning commute and when I nodded at him, he said, "$6,500." He fit the posted description.

Hopefully they catch the dirtbag. I'll call the owner.

UPDATE:
Talked to the owner, apparently I'm the 5th person to see the sleazeball.
Hope they catch him and the owner gets his bike back.

[Spin]

Well, I'm working tomorrow, Saturday, and Monday (racing Sunday). I'll keep an eye out for this dirtbag. I work the area of Horsepen to Staples Mill Broad, Willow Lawn area. Maybe I'll catch him tomorrow and make everybody's day!

Can anybody e-mail me a pic of the bike and/or the serial number if possible? nvayers"at"gmail"dot"com


Update:
I just e-mailed a bunch of the guys that work the 60 zone (Willow Lawn area) in Henrico. Gave them all the info in this thread. Maybe we'll get lucky and catch this guy tomorrow.

[JoshE]

Hi all, I am the owner of the Stolen Anthem referenced above. First, thanks to mountainspider for calling and making me aware of the post, as well as the fact he saw my bike again this morning. Second, thanks to philteach for posting up my stolen bike information here! I am attaching a picture for reference.

Ok, now it appears I need to address some uncertainty raised by bikewright's post. It's a little perplexing to me as the tone of the post seems to be insinuating I am making up some of the information on the suspect. Let me address your doubts and clarify:

To your point, my description is very detailed because I have made a point of being meticulous in gathering and disseminating information about this thief. For some background, one of the people that tipped me off about the suspect's presence at Lowe's is in fact an employee there, and an avid rider. He made a post on craigslist on Sun night 7/20 titled "Spotted Stolen Giant Anthem", which I susequently saw and replied to. The suspect was again noted in the store on Monday, and the same employee saw the suspect, however, when he asked his security team to confront the suspect they told him they could not as they did not have the specific data above, indicating he is wanted (and in posession of stolen property), that has now been communicated. As for the video, I asked to see it because security found him odd and actually zoomed all the way in on him (and my bike) as he looked at merchandise on a shelf in the store.

As for the comment on the teeth, everyone that was involved in the sightings of my bike has confirmed he has bad teeth...what else is there to say.

Regarding the comment about the hole being worn in the bottom of his shoe from my SPD pedals, that was information courtesy of the guys at Recycles bike shop that makes sense since they were assisting him to swap out my spd pedals for platform pedals. I assume they were kneeling on the ground at some point and noticed this or maybe the suspect brought it up but it's certainly credible. Maybe if Evan is a member here he can chime in, I don't know. The guys at Recycles gave me my SPD's back when I stopped by their shop later, so there is no doubt it's my bike!

So I hope that helps confirm things in anyone's mind that has doubts about the accuracy of this information! I will say this, trying to catch this guy has been extremely frustrating and extremely satisfying at the same time. At the end of the day, I just want my bike back, which hasn't happened yet...so I'm frustrated as hell with all of the missed opportunities to nail this guy. BUT, the flip side is that the biking community, and even others that aren't bikers, have been so supportive, informative, and just plain fired up to help that it's giving this bad experience a positive spin. There are a lot of stand up people looking to do the right thing and help a stranger out and I sure as hell appreciate it!

One final comment, please call 911 if you see this guy but DO NOT tip him off you know he's wanted, that's the only way he's going to get caught. Dialing 911 is per the detective's instructions on the case. Believe me, I would feel awkward calling 911 over a stolen bike myself, but that is the right course of action per the Richmond City Police.

Thank you very much.

Josh

Attached File(s)

•  Anthem_1_Blue_Brushed.jpg (66.3K)
  Number of downloads: 48

[Spin]

To further expand on Josh's post, it's imperative that anyone who sees this individual dial 911. Try to keep an eye on him (or follow him if possible) until the police arrive. Give the dispatcher as detailed a description as possible. 911, when dialed from a cell phone will go to the police (although some redirecting may be necessary). The non-emergency numbers for Richmond PD is 646-5100. For Henrico PD it's 501-5000. I'll be working tomorrow. But I can only be in one place at a time. If someone sees something and calls it in, I'll hear it on my radio and can respond accordingly. For example, if I'm at Horsepen and Broad going westbound, and the bike is spotted at Willow Lawn and Broad going eastbound, and I get that information... well, a dozen sets of eyes are better than one. And it makes this needle in a haystack that much easier to find.

My only issue is that I'm afraid he may run from me. Bikes, especially mountain bikes, can go in a lot of places a big Ford Crown Vic cannot. And I'm certainly not going to catch him on foot. Catching a guy on a bike is extremely difficult if they decide to run. Last time a guy ran from me on a bike I chased him over the curb and trashed the wheel on the police car and totally knocked the alignment out of whack. But we caught him. Police car went to the garage for work. I got written up for damaging city property. The fact that I caught someone who had felony warrants on file was a non-issue. The Department said I should have apprehended him without damaging the police car.

[JoshE]

Last time a guy ran from me on a bike I chased him over the curb and trashed the wheel on the police car and totally knocked the alignment out of whack. But we caught him. Police car went to the garage for work. I got written up for damaging city property. The fact that I caught someone who had felony warrants on file was a non-issue. The Department said I should have apprehended him without damaging the police car.

That's a shame, lord knows we pay enough in city taxes to pay for a few wheel alignments if it gets a felon off the street!