DNA leads to arrest of Seattle bike theft suspect

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(The subject of this investigation committed suicide Saturday morning, the Seattle Times reported.)

This sounds more like an episode of CSI than your typical bike theft investigation where police take a report and file it away.

The police crime scene investigation in this case traced DNA on a coffee cup left behind in a Seattle neighborhood bike shop by a man who took a Cervelo R3 for a test ride and never returned.

Months later, a DNA match led them to a Longview, Washington, podiatrist who they charged with 12 counts of possessing or selling stolen bikes.

Jacob J. Bos, 35, has pleaded not guilty to the charges filed in Cowlitz County Superior Court, according to the Seattle Times, which broke the story on their front page on Friday.


The man was a respected podiatrist at a Longview medical clinic. He also was a member of the Three Rivers bike club in Longview, where he sold bicycles to members of the club.

Apparently he also had an arrest record stemming from using another person's identity to buy furniture in Columbus, Ohio. That's how his DNA found its way into the national database.

The Times reported that many area bike shops had changed their policies about letting bikes out of the store for test rides in the wake of the string of thefts.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/22/dna-leads-to-arrest-of-seattle-bike-theft-suspect/

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