John, I am happy to hear your happy story.
What bothers me, however, is that the police officer who was clearly convinced that it was your stolen bik, didn't actually check the rest of the bikes against the database of the stolen bikes (unless that was a bluff on his part). Igor Sat Jul 10 13:08:39 CDT 2010 John Celio wrote: A happy ending to my stolen bike saga! When I reported my bike stolen, the police and others suggested checking out the local weekly swap meet. This morning, a friend picked me up early and we headed over there. By mistake we ended up missing the parking lot turn-off and parked in the swap meet area. By pure luck, we parked two rows down from a big van that was FULL of bikes, and by even more luck my bike was one of the two dozen he had pulled out and set up in his stall. Now, as I mentioned in the original thread, I had never written down the serial number of my bike, so I couldn't just go claim it. I called the police, who showed up and said that if I could identify it as the same one from the description in my police report, they could probably convince the seller to turn it over. The seller was in no mood to cooperate and was very argumentative with me as I explained every mark and scratch on the bike. He had stripped off almost all the accessories I'd put on it, but there were clear distinguishing marks that I had described on the police report that were still evident. Eventually one officer pulled him aside, and after a few minutes the officer came back and told me to take the bike, it was mine. He later told me he had asked the seller for his business license or tax info, neither of which he had. When the officer said he would be forced to run a check on all the serial numbers on all the bikes in his van for stolen property, the seller quickly said he'd let me take the bike if we'd leave, and that was that! I wish I'd been smart and written down the serial number, because then the seller might actually be facing criminal charges. Who knows how many stolen bikes he's fenced for thieves? I've resolved to keep a record of every serial number of every item of value that I have, starting with my bike and camera equipment, so that the next time this happens I will be better prepared. Live and learn! Thanks for reading, John -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
