Some bicycle theft victims in the Pacific Northwest have been taking the law into their own hands — in as much as they locate their stolen bicycles then set up a sting to get them back.
Sometimes police are on hand to make an arrest at the finale, sometimes not.
In the latest case, a guy from Portland who calls himself Simon Jackson posted a video about how he recovered his stolen bicycle in Seattle. It’s essentially a how-to video of setting up a sting to recover a stolen bicycle.
The rightful bike owner [the Washington Post reports his name is actually Jake Gillum] found the bike on Craigslist in Seattle and drive up to buy it. Gillum and his friends talk about the sting then film themselves confronting the guy who is trying to sell the Felt bike.
After accusations fly, the guy takes off but is chased down by Gillum — on his stolen bike. He maintains he didn’t steal it, but bought it off Craigslist himself, even though he said he knew it was stolen. I love this comment:
“It’s not illegal to buy stolen stuff. I looked it up, dude.”
Gillum, following the suspect again, gives this commentary:
“This is how it goes down everybody. This is why you don’t steal from bicyclists, because we care about our rides. I will go 160 miles to get my $2,500 bike back.”
About that time the Seattle police arrive, take the suspect into custody, cuff him, and whisk him away in a squad car.
Kudos to Gillum.
According to the Post, the suspect, who lives in Portland, hasn’t been formally charged. He was arrested for investigation of possessing and trafficking in stolen property. His lawyer, Holli Giffin, declined to comment because of the pending investigation, except to say, “We have a lot of concerns about the way things have been portrayed.”
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