suspicious looking CL posts that clearly push stolen bikes - what to do?

I usually flag them after looking very closely, but I saw one recently that just keeps itching at me...

It was a bike with no front wheel AND the rear wheel still u-locked to the frame. Now, if that's not suspicious, I don't know what is! I flagged it and moved on, but can't seem to shrug it off.

SO

What options do we have to do something about the ones that are clearly (or at least very likely) stolen... other than reporting to uninterested cops?

Why not post right here on this forum?

Better idea, anyone??
H??

For example: http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/bik/1100811060.html
May not be stolen, but awfully odd otherwise, right??

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on March 27, 2013 at 2:42pm

After reading your comments, she emailed me the following additional info:

The seller is a middle aged Mexican guy, he had a younger woman with him translating.
Given that neither spoke much English, its amazing they managed to post on
craigslist at all!!

Permalink Reply by Juan Primo on March 27, 2013 at 2:46pm

Some people from London see some people from Mexico selling a lot of bikes and now the pitchforks and torches come out.

Permalink Reply by Anika on March 27, 2013 at 2:58pm
These bikes are often on the street on armitage in front of the "shop". Our family rides by frequently and nothing generally seems unusual.
Permalink Reply by Juan Primo on March 27, 2013 at 3:07pm

Also, for the "sold" thing, if he put an ad in Spanish, it would say "se vende bicicleta".  You would put that into Google translate and get "bicycle sold".   It's sort of like "Spanish spoken" (se habla Español).   Maybe he doesn't speak English well, but he's getting close.

Permalink Reply by Mike Zumwalt on March 27, 2013 at 4:03pm

Much like the guy who kept showing wheels for sale at very low prices, keep track of the posting location, name, phone number then bust him/her.

A few deep wall rims might equal $500 or so (unsure of the exact laws in Illinois) if so it might equal a felony and you gotta think if a petty Craigslist D-bag wants a felony for stealing fixie rims?

"The crime of theft involves unlawfully taking the property of another person with the intent to permanently - or even temporarily - deprive that person of the property. In other words, you don't have to keep the property in order to be convicted of theft - you can be convicted of theft even if you possess the stolen property for only a short period of time. In order to be convicted of theft, you also have to know that the property belongs to another person."

Permalink Reply by Juan Primo on March 27, 2013 at 4:37pm

Doesn't he have to be doing a crime for you to bust him?   Aren't you guys just slandering him at this point?

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on March 27, 2013 at 5:25pm

I figured that someone who was actually familiar with the location would speak up sooner or later.

What our newcomer described to me sounded odd enough that I could understand why she might consider it unusual and suspicious - a little like Shining Bikes and Things, which some of you have talked about as a source of stolen bikes.  If you weren't from here and responded to an ad to find a situation like that, something that didn't look normal, is it possible that you might be suspicious, too?  

Juan - Give her a break.  She was trying to get more info from people who might have more familiarity with the situation.

Can the torches and pitchforks be put away now?  ;)

Anika said:

These bikes are often on the street on armitage in front of the "shop". Our family rides by frequently and nothing generally seems unusual.
Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 28, 2013 at 12:46am

Flag early and flag often.

I probably flag 30-40 CL posts a day in the FS-Bicycles section.

I'm often browsing on my computer home connection and on my phone on the run so I hit a lot of them at least twice. 

The low-life thieves annoy me and so do the keyword spammers who list dozens (if not hundreds) of unrelated keywords.   If I search for a specific term like Ultegra or Raleigh and I get a Campy or Schwinn it gets flagged twice from two IP's.  When I see scummy bike thieves I do the same.   If everyone flagged everything they knew wasn't right it'd be too hard for these jerks to operate and constantly re-list the many dozens of ads they place every day. 

Permalink Reply by Steve Courtright on March 28, 2013 at 2:34am

There are certainly some quirky folks in the bike-selling arena.  There is this one guy in Skokie I called about a very large frame.  A visit to his house revealed that every room was packed, nearly to the ceiling in some places, with bikes, frames and wheels. 

 

Turned out he just loves bikes.  Happily bought a super sweet Schwinn from him for my little guy.

 

This is certainly not to minimize the findings above.  Stolen bike clearing houses are apparently in healthy abundance.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on March 28, 2013 at 4:26am

Agreed.

h' 1.0 said:

Yes, my response to her was that there was no evidence that any of the bikes were stolen.

I much prefer a contact like hers to the folks who want to get the police involved because they saw someone "shifty" riding a bicycle.
.

Permalink Reply by Bill the Cat on March 29, 2013 at 3:10am

I recently engaged a police officer about this once & was told that "they need a specific complaint about a specific bike to do anything. So for now even if you smell a rat, you pretty much have to let it go unless you see the rat walking like one...

Permalink Reply by spencewine on March 30, 2013 at 2:56pm
I hadn't seen this thread and went to check out a bike by this seller this evening. Came away with some of the same concerns:

http://www.thechainlink.org/forum/topics/what-would-you-make-of-this

Edit: I'll add that those photos taken, while brave, do not do justice to the volume of bikes at this location.

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