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  • Carl Voss
  • Wed October 16 2013
  • Posted Oct 16, 2013

Four bikes have been stolen from the Des Moines B-cycle fleet. The pearl-gray bikes (#087, #398, $489, #094) were all checked out with the same stolen credit card.

Two additional bikes were stolen with the same credit card; they were abandoned at a liquor store near Hubbell and East Grand avenues.

Please be on the lookout for the bikes. Details to report? Contact Carl Voss at 515-210-0237.

The value for each bike is $1,300.

This is the first theft of bikes in the three years of operation. The Des Moines Bicycle Collective, a nonprofit, is owner and operator of the Des Moines B-cycle bike-sharing program.


Getting right to the point: The last three of the six B-cycles have been recovered. One was filthy muddy, two have banged up fenders. But otherwise okay.

The story: Clayton Mudge, our B-cycle tech, spotted a guy ride in on bike #398 and park it near the 7th and Grand B-station. Clayton called the DMPD, then hung around until the police arrived. The suspect was handcuffed and arrested. The suspect claimed he didn't steal the bike but found it at the QT near Iowa Methodist.

A few minutes later while in a police car, the suspect conveniently remembered where two more bikes were located. Those were found beneath the Fleur viaduct and to the west along the railroad tracks.

In all, more than $2,000 was racked up on the stoled credit card over three days—not counting the value of 6 B-cycles ($7,800).

Now those 20 extra bikes. I swear, this was not a planted story!

The KCCI story also generated about 20 bike donations today to our shop.

Thanks for everyone's interest in our B-cycle program.

#2 - dsmbikecollective posted Oct 18, 2013


One bike recovered! It was found near the Gas Lamp in the Western Gateway Park.
Three more to go!

#1 - dsmbikecollective posted Oct 16, 2013


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