Recovered bikes in search of their owners

It started innocently enough: An arranged meeting between two consenting adults to purchase a bicycle.

But once the would-be buyer ascertained that the said item was, in fact, their own bicycle that had been stolen three months prior, things got interesting.

At least for the bicycle owner. For wannabe seller Marque Moore, things got complicated and expensive. After the would-be buyer tipped off BART police to the impending transaction on January 6 near Ashby station, the meet-up ended in an arrest for Moore.

The original owner and their bicycle were reunited after a presumably painful separation.

And the crime didn’t stop there. Huddled together like war refugees, a collection of more than 10 bicycles was recovered in Moore’s Richmond garage. Additionally, among the kidnapped cycles was a Frankenstein assortment of bike amputees; wheels, seat posts and a few maimed frames.

While it’s not known for sure whether these were also stolen items, the previous activity, along with the presence of a gun and ammunition nestled next to the bicycles, suggests that Moore isn’t just an aspiring bike mechanic.

Like a lost or wounded animal, a bike has no way of vocalizing just what exactly has been done to it or where it came from, so BART investigators are now looking for the owners of the rescued bikes to identify and claim them.

BART has posted pictures of the recovered bikes and pieces thereof online to give owners the opportunity to claim them.

Think your bike could be among these? Be sure to have adequate proof of ownership. This means a case number from a theft report, a receipt or record of the serial number.

Don’t have these? Like a tattoo or piercing, highly unique marks on your bike can also used to identify it. While you may not be your bike’s first partner, make sure you know every inch of it well, and can prove it.