When his father suddenly died last fall, Mandy Lloyd’s son decided to save up over the winter to buy the bicycle his dad had promised him.
The seven-year old fulfilled his wish in March with some financial help from his mom. “Dad’s bike” was a shiny, new purple KL40 United BMX. It was stolen from the family’s back yard last week, in the days leading up to Father’s Day.
Lloyd says her son’s small BMX was parked, out of sight and behind a gate, amongst some older, adult bikes. But it was easiest to steal, and worth the most. She expects the thieves came to take it after seeing him ride home from school.
She has now posted a plea for help on social media and Kijiji, hoping someone will recognize the bike.
“This is the bike his dad was going to give him. So you can imagine how he feels,” she says. “People have offered me cash to replace it. But it’s not the same.”
Police records show that 12 bicycles were stolen since the beginning of the year, compared to 10 thefts during the same time last year. In two cases, the bicycles were quickly returned because someone had moved them without telling the owners.
Another two bikes were also found, one of them in a location close to where it was taken. Officers also arrested a youth on Wednesday who was riding a stolen bicycle. They recognized it from its description and serial number.
There may be more bicycles missing in the community but people sometimes don’t report the thefts, said Cpl. Laurel Kading with the St. Albert RCMP.
“But of course, we need the reports in order to investigate,” she said.
People should record the serial number of their bicycles, no matter the age of the bike, she said. The numbers should be kept in a safe place in case any property goes missing. If a bike doesn’t have a serial number, the owner can also engrave a unique marking that can act as a serial number.
“Some people engrave their driver’s licence number on their property so that the police can easily check who it should belong to,” she said.
Lloyd reported the theft to police and also posted a picture of the bicycle to Kijiji. She heard of people selling stolen property on the popular classifieds website and wanted to make people aware of the theft. Other residents have also taken to monitoring the site for their stolen bikes.
In an email to the Gazette, Bruno Peters wrote that his son’s BMX bike was stolen from the bike rack in front of St. Albert’s Canadian Tire store sometime between 5 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on June 15. The cable securing the bike was cut.
A friend of his son’s also had his bike stolen. Peters since saw the friend’s bike appear on Kijiji and took a photo of the seller’s information and cellphone number. The advertising was gone the next day, and the seller told Peters by text message that the bike had sold. But he had others to offer. Peters since provided the information he collected to the RCMP.
He said at least five BMX bikes were stolen in the last couple of weeks, all of them worth between $500 and $1,000.
“What is somewhat shocking from a society perspective is that there are children who are buying these good-quality bikes for extremely cheap prices,” he said. “Why are their parents not asking any questions?”
Kading said that anyone who sees their property online is best off contacting the RCMP to check out the seller on their behalf. They can call the St. Albert RCMP at 780-458-7700.
“The RCMP welcomes this assistance in looking for stolen property,” she said.
