sciencemonster

I get neighborhood reports in my email - just got this:

PRESS RELEASE – COMMUNITY ALERT
CITY of SAN MATEO POLICE DEPARTMENT
200 Franklin Parkway, San Mateo, CA 94403
www.cityofsanmateo.org




COMMUNITY HELPS SMPD DETECTIVES NAB BICYCLE THIEF
Detectives also recover stolen bike valued at about $10,000

On February 21st, a 38 year-old San Mateo resident parked and secured his bicycle outside the 24 hour Fitness on Bovet Road. He returned from his workout about an hour later to find that his bike had been stolen. The bicycle was a custom road race bike valued at about $10,000.

The bicycle was listed on Craigslist and purchased on the same day. Upon purchasing the bike, the purchaser realized that the bike appeared to be more valuable than what he paid for it. He contacted a local bicycle shop to inquire about it. The bike shop employee was familiar with this one-of-a-kind racing bike, and recognized that it was the victim’s stolen bicycle. The employee contacted SMPD. The stolen bicycle was turned over to SMPD, and has subsequently been returned to the owner. A photo of the bike is attached.

Detective Chris Egan assumed the investigation, and was able to develop information identifying Terrell Medley, a 35 year-old San Mateo Resident, as the suspect in the theft and sale of this bike. SMPD Detectives arrested Medley on February 23rd. He was booked into San Mateo County Jail on Grand Theft, Sale of Stolen Goods, and drug charges.

This is a great example of alert community members looking out for each other. Community Members should remember that the following precautions should be taken with valuable property to help potential recovery of the property if stolen:

• Take quality digital photos of your valuables.
• Have notes available about anything that may make the item unique.
• Record serial numbers or other identifying numbers.
• If able apply your own contact information or owner applied identifiers.
• Many owners find their own stolen property by searching Craigslist or other similar venues for their property.
• If your stolen property is located, contact the police to safely assist you in the recovery process.




Pretty incredible. Wonder what kind of lock he used that he'd trust to protect a 10K bike.

Little Darwin

My car plus all of my bikes combined are worth less than $10,000.... And there are a couple of my bikes that I wouldn't trust to a bike lock. I barely trust them in my locked garage.

Edit: I worked in San Mateo... not that it matters.

sauze

Wow ... I don't leave my Super Course from '76 locked up .

triplebutted

SillyCone Valley. Everyone rides $10,000 bikes.

Chombi

$10K bike + "secured" OUTSIDE the fitness center + 1 hour = dumb de dumb dumb.....dumb!
Does he really deserve to have a $10K bike??

Chombi

2manybikes

Yes. Really dumb. Ride the $25 bike to lock outside.

shnibop 

Can you post a picture of said bike? I'm curious to know if it really is a $10k "custom racing bike".

3alarmer 

What I'd love to know is how much the
CL buyer paid for it.

SteveSGP

but someone might see him on the $25.00 bike

55/Rad

I haven't owned a bike lock since junior high - over 35 years ago. I have owned dozens of really nice bikes. Naturally, I don't take these bikes to places where they will be out of sight.

I don't think I'm the only person who does this....

2manybikes

One must also wear the $25 bike appropriate clothing. Dress like Bruce Wayne. No one will suspect you have a good bike hidden in the bat cave....uh....garage!

illwafer

san mateo is a pretty nice area. i would guess this guy had parked his bike out there several times, probably at the same time of day. i'm sure someone finally noticed and came up with a plan to snag it quickly.

sciencemonster

Exactly.

Here's the pic included with the press release:



Must be the red spokes.

2manybikes

He lives !!

RunningPirate

Actually, San Mateo is up on the peninsula, not in the valley...

...and no - not all of us ride $10K bikes

I hate to see anyone get their bike stolen...but then again, I hate to see anyone set themselves up for failure...

thenomad

I'd bet he's pissed he got the bike back. A $4000 bike is annoying to have stolen but the pain is eased by the realization he could claim it was $10,000 on the insurance report.

funkflex

Crazy story. I don't take my bikes anywhere where they need to be locked up or where I cant see them. Locking a bike up these days is like playing Russian Roulette.

well biked

I think we're all pretty nuts about bikes here. Obviously some folks can afford, or at least choose to spend more money than others, on nice bikes. Yeah, it seems a little crazy to leave a bike that's worth a lot of money unattended like that, but at least he's out riding the bike, and in this case riding it to a fitness center. He did lock the bike. And some jerk stole it. I say we ought to be raking the thief over the coals, not the guy who was out on his bike. And it was nice that the person who bought the bike became concerned and did the right thing in asking around about it. I REALLY don't like thieves.

rat fink

I'm the same way.

Also, I think thenomad is right, it looks more like a 3000-4000 dollar bike.

RobbieTunes

You're not.

KonAaron Snake 

+1...it's sad when someone is attacked for LOCKING a bike. It's still a bike, meant to be ridden and I think expecting the bike to be safe for a brief period, while locked, is hardly crazy.

It's not 10,000 but I have over a grand into my main commuter, which for me is a lot of money, and I lock it outside destinations for periods of an hour or two. I've never had a problem, but sometimes you get unlucky. I strongly doubt that the thief knew the bike was worth that much...most are opportunists and he got lucky.

Wildwood 

Obviously the thief gets raked over the coals - Heck, he went to jail.
The more interesting bit are the incidentals. Insurance fraud, false report to police ($10K),too rich techies, etc.

Let's make it real steamy, makes a better read.

531phile 

Same here. My best bikes never get locked up in public. I even go so far as to bring toliet paper just in case I have to take a dump somewhere so I won't have to go inside a public restroom.

rothenfield1

Can you say "insurance scam"?

gridplan

Why would you assume insurance fraud is involved? The replacement cost for some of these bikes is that and more. Also, you should leave the "too rich" comments out of this. There is no such thing. It's really just code for "he has a better-paying job than I do."