Two bicycle thieves are facing long prison terms after stealing nearly a million dollars worth of bicycles and other sporting goods from shops in five Western cities and selling them on eBay.
Their three-year crime spree ended when police in Richardson, Texas, tracked them down through their eBay accounts. Many of the bikes have been recovered by store owners as they still bore their pricetags.
One bike shop owner in the Dallas area told CBS11 News that the two thieves looked around the store during business hours, chose their bikes, closed themselves in the dressing room as the store closed, then left with the five bikes through the back door. Store owner Marsha Gorczyca said:
“I was in shock actually, that they could come in here and within an eight minute period make way with $16,000 worth of bicycles.”
Other cities
A bike store in Richardson lost $80,000 worth of bicycles in one haul. Dallas area stores weren't the only ones hit, also Austin, Kansas City, Phoenix, San Francisco and San Diego.
A judge ordered the man who pleaded guilty for the thefts to pay $700,000 in restitution. That's going to be a good trick as he's spending his next 15 years in prison, although he does have to give up his downtown Dallas loft. His accomplice, scheduled to be sentenced soon, can expect to forfeit her Porsche.
These two aren't the only bike thieves that have graduated from ripping off individual bikes on the street by using chain cutters.
Three Silicon Valley bike shops have been hit by bike thieves, taking more than $40,000 in bikes and bike gear. Those owners are doing their own detective work. The biking blogger Chico Gino says he was contacted by one of the bike shops to determine whether a Calfee he had for sale was hot.
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