Earlier today, the Concord Police Department released images of a suspected bike thief who they say stole a bike from the Safeway on Willow Pass Road.
Well, now there’s a twist.
Captain Brian Wiesendanger says they’ve contacted the man in the photos, thanks to an anonymous tip from a reader of CLAYCORD.com, and it’s now been verified that he’s not a suspect at all, but instead a victim of bike theft….
This subject has been identified, thanks to you and your readership. A twist to the story is that he is actually the victim of a bicycle theft himself. This bicycle is actually licensed to him, verified by CPD.
It was stolen from him, and we are now investigating how the victim that reported the theft to us came into possession of the bike.
Poor guy, but at least he got his bike back!
Thanks to the anonymous tipster who was able to lead the police to the man, who were then able to get the whole story.
{ 48 comments }
Extinguish the torches and put the pitch forks back in the shed!
And this is why we are supposed to have the rule of law, not mob mentality taking care of justice.
And it’s also why we use the word “allegedly”.
Maybe you should take down the photo on the previous posting, or at least make a large notation that he is not a thief. Poor guy.
So…. Where are the pictures of the guy that walked in with the bike?
Bet the other guy bought it on craigslist.
Talk about luck on getting his bike back.
…and he should have called store security, and/or CPD to assist in recovery, and saved a lot of time and CPD resources. On the other hand, I hope the police go ahead now and find out how the guy that reported it stolen got it in the first place—–Craig’s List?
It looks like “(alleged)” really was correct.
April, I did.
I direct my comments away from the dude in photo (if he indeed is innocent) and towards the Actual thief of the Bike. It would be a pretty dumb criminal to be wearing a work shirt. BTW, if I was reclaiming my stolen goods – I would have a video camera to document the whole thing.
Better to dialogue and get to the truth than to say Nothing and let the criminal run free.
Wow! What a twist!
He should have also contacted the Concord Police before taking back his bike.
Mayor, I know you like to kid with using the word “allegedly” this time it wasn’t a joke. Good job.
Best story of the day!
So he somehow found his own stolen bicycle at Safeway? He should have contacted policeto tell him he found it and not just walked off with it!
Man if the bike could talk lol it could tell quite a story!
I second madmom. You can’t make this kind of stuff up.
The guy stole back his own bike? Awesome.
Wow! Good for him. How random to run across your own stolen bike!
Classic!
You were a huge help in resolving this Mr. Mayor, thank you……
Thank you #1. Well said. Oops, sorry guy. We didn’t mean it. If it was my bike I would have taken it back too. Pretty funny though.
Smart boy for registering his bike with CPD per the City of Concord Municipal Code.
Two wrongs don’t make a right…he should be arrested! So should the other owner (??) if he purchased it from CL.
I’ve decided.
That is funny. I am pretty sure I would have called the Po Po or waited for the person who had the bike and serve a beat down – instead of just stealing it back.
I wonder what the CPD would do if they received a call from someone saying they found their own stolen property and want to steal it back. Would you be willing to ask them the question Mr Mayor?
wow what a twist, mayor keep us updated if you get additional info on this twisted event,
That is hilarious!!!! You know what… I actually had a feeling it was the bike owner in the pictures but my thought was not to the extent of this twist. So in this story there are 2 owners. I just hope that the 2nd owner (whom reported it stolen) really did purchase it from the actual thief and that he is not the one who stole it because if he did he’s an idiot. LOL! Yeah, that guy in the picture looked too clean cut to be a bike thief to me.
Captain Concord is right. I am sure it would not be a high priority for the CPD. They have murders and armed robberies to attend to. Did you see the list of crimes that the OPD is not responding to now? They want the citizens to report burglaries etc. on line. Don’t know what a guy can do if his computer is stolen. I guess he is just out of luck.
Hey Captain – I just had a conversation with a current Hayward PD officer about this issue. I had wondered the same thing. He stated that it would be wise for the victim to contact CPD in case there was some sort of confrontation.
However he did state that since it is in fact his property, he has every right in the eyes of the law to re-claim his property. He could not think of anything the victim did wrong other then put himself in a potential volatile situation.
So, I have a bike that I would be very disappointed to lose. How do you register it. I don’t see any serial numbers? How does that work? (If any of you know, before I take up the time of the police)
just goes to show you things arnt always as they seem
that and never buy a bike from a guy at a bart station
People leave mr mayor alone. He said. Allegedly. If it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t have claycord anyways!!! Think about it! And to the guy who got his bike back….I woulda called cpd after I whooped the thiefs ass! Lol.
Link to the concord municipal code section on registering bicycles.
http://www.ci.concord.ca.us/citygov/municode/chapter106.htm#sec106-481
A lot of cities have requirements like this, but they’re ridiculous and unenforceable. May or may not help you recover a stolen bike even if the police do find it.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Another lesson for claycord posters who assume they are better people then everyone else.
You all need a jump to conclusion mat
Isn’t OJ Simpson in jail for doing this?
Shygurl. No one is picking on Mr Mayor. We love him. I don’t know what we would do without him. Yes he said “allegedly”. We know. He is right. This is just a great story. I still would have just taken my bike back and not even thought of calling the police. By the way..coming home from work listening to KGO as usual and they reported the Clayton thing and said “a local website helped find the person responsible for the crimes”. Go Mayor. Go Claycord.
Here’s what I don’t understand: Why did anyone think the bike was stolen when it was taken from the Safeway? Did the thief report it stolen?
Or is this just the case of the Safeway security people seeing the video and then calling police — without bothering to see if anyone was missing a bike?
Re Concord Police and wrongly accused bike thief.
Did the Concord cops who arrested the wrong person accuse the assumed thief of being “crazy, out of his mind, ask if he had mental problems”. Did they kick, punch and choke the wrongly accused bike owner? as they did to me, a five foot 3 inch, 75 year old Concord resident when they responded to my 911 call for help when I was assaulted by an angry knife wielding Hispanic truck driver. And when I screamed in pain as they were breaking my arm, that they were hurting me, the Concord cop responded that ” it should hurt and I’m going to hurt you more!” My complaints to the city council and police went unanswered. The wrongly accused bike owner is lucky he got his bike back without being beaten by thugs wearing police uniforms.
Ian #30:
Usually there is a serial number stamped on the underside of the bottom bracket. Here’s a diagram of possible locations
http://www.utexas.edu/parking/transportation/biking/find_serial.html
Hope it helps!
I’m gonna register mine now for sure.
Be certain if you buy a used bike that you obtain a receipt or bill of sale with that SN recorded..or the person can simply claim it was stolen and get their bike back
My bike was stolen. I made a Police Report. Later I found out my bike had been pawned. I found it at the Pawn Shop. I called the police and they said I had to pay to unPawn it, which I did, but I felt foolish.
Why are Pawn Shops allowed to recover their “loss” on buying stolen items?
I haven’t read all of the comments… but I doubt the guy could have waited for the police to arrive before his bike and the thief were gone (or bike and new owner)? He could have ridden it to the police station then told them what took place. IMHO
Register your bike. I found a bike abandoned in my front yard and called the police. It was odd the way it was dumped so I thought it was either stolen or used for a crime.
The bike wasn’t registered so the police held it for 90 days (I think) and then I was allowed to claim it. There were no police reports filed of a stolen bike matching its description and who knows where this one came from. It wasn’t in the best of shape anyway, but figured my nephew could use it.
I’ve read the comments and don’t see any statement about whether the real bike owner reported it stolen before he ‘took it back’. I agree with the others, where is the picture of the person leaving the bike? Am I off course about wondering if there is more to this story. Did the owner and thief know each other?
Even though I am pro-police, I wonder if they would have come to the store before the two parties confronted each other regarding the true ownership of the bike. If the ‘new owner’ recently bought it in a transaction he felt was legitimate, he might not want to give it up so easily.
PS: I would have ‘stolen it back’ as well, and then sorted out the details, like amending the police report that I previously filed. I filed a car contents theft report last year, but sure felt that it would only be a statistical blip on a PD daily report….. maybe!
Anonymous 1 – pretty funny, and sadly you nailed it. Felt like a Shrek movie.
I would be interested in how and where the bike was originally stolen is there any information on that? What kind of lock if any was on it that might be useful .
Not very often does someone get their stolen goods back. I couldn’t be happier for the guy who took the time to register his prized possession. Way to go Claycord and Safeway for having cameras in the right spots.
To Unpawning,
Pawn shops are only allowed to ‘recover their loss’ after a 30 day waiting period. If you find your stolen property within 30 days of it being pawned they have to eat their loss. This is the way our wonderful legislation is written.
Trust me when I say we hate this law when dealing with pawn shops and think its BS, but we have to operate within the law.
I hope we all learned a lesson here as to not jump to conclusions until we know the full story. Sure is interesting how a story can just change as it is told by one person to the next and all of a sudden nothing is true. Even though whoever stole the bike in the first place added a kick stand and dice valve stem caps the value was not $1,200. The bike was worth $450 brand new. And the guy in the pics is sure not a criminal, he’s a veteran who stood up to the low life who stole his bike.
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