Girl Finds Her Stolen Bike on Craigslist, Gets It Back By Being Amazing
It all started last Wednesday when [redacted] had her beloved bike stolen just outside her friend's house in Yaletown, Vancouver.
She posted about it on Facebook, phoned the police to file a stolen bike report, and then called her bike shop RIDE ON to retrieve the bike's serial numbers.
Not long after, she received a call from a friend informing her that a dead ringer for her bike was just posted for sale on Craigslist.
The address: Two blocks away from the site of the theft.
Informing the police did no good, as an officer promised someone would eventually get around to it, but probably not today.
"THIS GUY IS SELLING MY BIKE RIGHT NOW!!!" the victim wrote on Reddit. "I am not missing this opportunity waiting for a call. So I jump into action."
I called the guy up and made arrangements to meet him in half an hour at the main street McDonalds. (McDonalds, yes, McDonalds) When I pulled into the parking lot I still had no plan of attack. I got there and saw the guy with my bike. He was wearing board shorts, a raggy tank top and dark sketchy glasses. I noticed that it was my bike right away because of the RIDE ON stickers on the frame and the fact I have a silver handle bar plug on the left and a black one on the right. A description I gave to the police already. Here is where I started thinking on my feet.
I asked the guy if I could take it for a ride around the parking lot. He was weary and said “yeah but don’t take off…” I said not to worry that I would even think of it! My heart was pounding and I had no idea what to do so I just got on the bike and was like fuck this guy and started to ride. As I was riding away, I called my friend who was driving to meet me as backup. I rode to the adjacent parking lot where she was pulling into as I was riding. We watched the guy start to look for me and he got super freaked out and he suddenly just took off running.
Not wanting to leave the poor bike thief hanging, our hero later gave him a call to apologize "for not sticking around to pay him for the bike HE FUCKING STOLE FROM ME!!!"
The serial numbers matched "of course," and the serial thief (who was selling a bunch of other bikes and some iPhones as well) was reported to Crime Stoppers.
All in all, a happy ending for all involved. Except for the bike thief, but fuck that guy.