[Lincolnparkdc] Stolen bike

[Brett Reynolds]

That's awful and beyond frustrating. I'm sorry, Jeni! It's especially
frustrating right now because supply chain issues and shortages continue to
plague the bike industry, so a good replacement is hard to find.

We had two bikes stolen last year from the 100 block of Tennessee, and I
was able to recover one of them with the help of the Montgomery County PD
the next day when I found it for sale on OfferUp in Silver Spring. Based on
my experience, I would make the following suggestion/PSA to everyone with
bikes: take down your bike's serial number, full information about its
brand and size, and plenty of photos of it. Then, register it on BikeIndex
and/or Project529. Having evidence that it belonged to you is critical if
it's ever recovered, and registering it on a database helps the police find
you if they ever come across a cache of possibly-stolen bikes.

If it gets stolen,immediately start searching for your bike on Facebook
Marketplace, Craigslist, and OfferUp. These theft rings try to flip the
bikes super quickly to wash their hands. And file a police report even if
you think it won't make a difference (and a homeowner's insurance claim).
The house in Maryland that I recovered my bike from was fairly obviously a
bike theft fencing operation (had a dozen plus used bikes on the property,
all for sale on OfferUp), but, per the police who helped me, they couldn't
find any of the other bikes' serial numbers registered or reported as
stolen, so there was nothing they could do to legally prove that the
"sellers" were knowingly trafficking in stolen goods or to otherwise notify
the legitimate owners.

Stay safe!

Brett Reynolds


On Tue, Aug 31, 2021 at 3:17 PM Jeni Schoemaker <jaschoemaker at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi.
>
> Someone broke the wood on the back of my fence door and just stole my bike
> on the 100 block of 13th se. the guy headed towards east Capitol. Please
> let me know if anyone sees it. I need it for school next week!!!
>
> Jeni
>
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