RECOVERED! Bikes Stolen! Help Me Chainlinkers

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Permalink Reply by Elliot Bennett on August 26, 2011 at 10:56pm

Our bikes were seen at Swap-o-Rama on 42nd and Ashland again yesterday. If anyone has time and would be willing to go look for them on Saturday that would be awesome. If you see either bike, call 911 immediately and report that you have seen a stolen bicycle and would like assistance to recover it. You can reference case numbers: 11-23047 and 11-23048 with the Evanston PD

Thanks!!!

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Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on August 27, 2011 at 10:45am

A bunch of us who usually go are out of town or we would be there.

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Permalink Reply by BalloonBiker on August 27, 2011 at 11:18am

Is there a reason why you can't go there yourself?

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Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on August 27, 2011 at 1:45pm

Eliot is an REI manager so he probably has to work weekends.


BalloonBiker said:

Is there a reason why you can't go there yourself?

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Permalink Reply by Elliot Bennett on August 31, 2011 at 8:02am

Thanks Julie! I wasnt going to justify that question with an answer. I appreciate the defense.

 

& thank you to everyone who was able to keep eyes out for our bikes.

Julie Hochstadter said:

Eliot is an REI manager so he probably has to work weekends.


BalloonBiker said:

Is there a reason why you can't go there yourself?

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Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on August 31, 2011 at 12:21pm

It's notoriously hard to interpret tone (and intent) from internet communication. . . .

I don't think Jami (Balloon Biker's) intent was to criticize.

She's one of a handful of people in the Chicago bike community who has a deep understanding of the current face of bike theft, and knows Swap-O-Rama like the back of her hand.

The reality is that a third party is very unilkely to be able to get your bike back for you, especially with an Evanston police report number, and the attention that they may give to it may just end up driving it underground so it never shows up at SoR again, or does, but only in individual components.

Elliot, take a look at the "Stolen Bike-- do this" thread; Scott who posted in the past day may be a likely candidate to be heading back to SoR this week.

Elliot Bennett said:

Thanks Julie! I wasnt going to justify that question with an answer. I appreciate the defense.

 

& thank you to everyone who was able to keep eyes out for our bikes.

Julie Hochstadter said:

Eliot is an REI manager so he probably has to work weekends.


BalloonBiker said:

Is there a reason why you can't go there yourself?

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Permalink Reply by Elliot Bennett on September 1, 2011 at 9:37pm

Both our Bikes were recovered today from Swap-O-Rama!!!!!!!

 

Huge thank you to folks who helped out today! Both bikes were recovered intact with all accessories...Sadly, No arrests were made. Full report will be coming shortly.

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Permalink Reply by S.Presley☠ on September 1, 2011 at 9:40pm

Congrats!!

Elliot Bennett said:

Both our Bikes were recovered today from Swap-O-Rama!!!!!!!

 

Huge thank you to folks who helped out today! Both bikes were recovered intact with all accessories...Sadly, No arrests were made. Full report will be coming shortly.

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Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on September 1, 2011 at 10:09pm

Wow... it's been a banner week for stolen bicycle recovery.

Elliot's:

http://chicago.stolenbike.org/node/191680

http://chicago.stolenbike.org/node/191683

 

Tuesday:

http://chicago.stolenbike.org/node/191667

 

Sunday:

http://chicago.stolenbike.org/node/191715

 

I'm excited for Elliot and his wife, but saddened that past efforts to put the heat on that raging sore on the face of the Back of the Yards neighborhood have sort of blown away and the vendors aren't even finding it necessary to make an effort to keep hot bikes out of sight. Not surprised, but saddened.

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Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on September 2, 2011 at 6:56am

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Elliot that is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You made my morning and this is def going in this week's email, which should be hot off the press within a couple of hours.

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Permalink Reply by dan brown on September 2, 2011 at 9:00am

massive rejoicing ensues !!!  Yippeeee !!!!

 

congrats. I agree with Howard that this is bittersweet : great that they are recovered intact to you two; but sadly history will repeat itself. enjoy the holiday weekend with your newly recovered toys !!!

 

DB

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Permalink Reply by Elliot Bennett on September 2, 2011 at 9:26am

FULL STORY...

 

Yesterday afternoon I received an email from a guy who identified himself as Scott. He said that he had found my bikes, and gave me his phone number. I called him immediately, and he told me that he was currently at Swap-O-Rama and that my bikes were there. Per the instructions of the police, I asked him to call 911 and report it. He said that as the owner, I needed to make the call...So I called 911 to report it. Sadly the Chicago Police were quite rude, and seemed very annoyed that I was calling about some bicycles...but to their credit they agreed to send someone out to check on it. 

I called Scott back, and told him that the police were on their way, although I wasn't hopeful about how quickly they would arrive. He said that he would wait there for the police, and I started to make my way down to Swap-O-Rama via public transit. 

While en route, Scott called me again to find out how long it would take me to arrive...the Police had shown up, but had told him that unless he was the owner and could prove ownership of the bicycles, they couldn't do anything. I still had a train transfer and a bus ride to go, so the police left and told Scott to call back if I showed up and could identify the bikes. 

At this point, Scott agreed to wait for me to arrive at Swap-O-Rama, which I did a short while later. When I arrived, I was met by Scott, his girlfriend Sarah and another bike theft victim named Laura. They told me where to find my bikes, and let me go and check them out. Both my wife's and my bikes were still together and intact, sitting outside a white truck with a bunch of other bikes. When I saw them I regrouped with Scott & Crew and called 911 again to report that I was the owner of stolen bikes that I had identified at Swap-O-Rama...The CPD again said that they would send someone to check it out. 

45 minutes later, we were still waiting for the police to show up. Scott and I were waiting at the McDonalds next to the Swap-O-Rama for the police, and Sarah and Laura were looking for their own stolen bicycles. While were were waiting, I learned that Scott had been down at the swap meet every day that it was open in the past week or so looking for Sarah's stolen Bike. He had been taking pictures of bikes, vendors, and license plates...and was checking the bikes he saw against the stolen registries. If he was able to identify them, he was calling the owners and reporting them. Evidently, he had helped two other people recover bikes earlier that week. Laura was another stolen bike victim, who's bike Scott had identified the previous day at the Alsip Swap-o-Rama...she had decided to come to the swap meet that day with them on the chance that her bike would be there...

Side Note: If it weren't for these three good samaritans, I wouldnt have my bikes again...so a HUGE shout out to Scott & Crew for their efforts...

  

...While we were still waiting for the police, Sarah and Laura came up and said that they had been speaking with the Swap-O-Rama security guard, who was actually an off-duty police officer. He told them that he could help us get the bikes back, but he couldn't make any arrests. I decided that at this point, I just wanted to get my bikes back. 

I went back into the Swap meet, and the security guys met me at the gate, they asked if I could prove the bikes were mine, and I told them that I had serial numbers and original purchase agreements. he told me to go find my bikes and stand by them...so I did. As I was looking at my bikes he came up and asked which ones were mine, I identified our two bikes, but as soon as we touched them...guys came out of nowhere and were all around us. (I was really glad that I didn't try and confront them myself) the security guard had me flip over the bikes so he could confirm the serial numbers, when they matched my paperwork he told me to leave with the bikes immediately. Sarah helped me walk the bikes out of the swap meet over to the McDonalds where I called for my family to come pick me & the bikes up. 

while waiting for my ride, the police showed up (a good hour+ after my phone call) When they learned that I had the bikes, they took my information and drove off again. No arrests were made, they didn't even ask which vendor it was.

 

 

Speaking of Vendors...There was a vendor at the Meet who played a huge role in reporting these bikes. To protect him and his business, I will call him V. V - you know who you are...thank you for your consistent reporting, and for your assistance in getting my bikes back.

 

Overall it was a pretty surreal experience. I really didn't expect to get anything back, let alone both of the bikes, with all of our lights and racks...I am really surprised that they were both still together. The only damage I have found so far was as follows:

- the handlebar tape had been removed from both bikes

- my bike has some significant scratches to the top tube and head tube

- both bikes have generator front hubs to power our bike lights, the wheels had been removed without disconnecting the lights, which stripped the wires out of the mounting...it is an easy fix, and wont require any cost or parts.

 

Once again, a HUGE Shout out & thank you to Scott, Sarah, Laura and V. You guys are rock stars. & Thank you to the Chainlink & the Chicago Stolen Bike registry, the recovery of our bikes was truly a community effort, and I am thankful for all of you!

Best Regards,

Elliot 

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