Pops Maellard
Member
To compress a stupidly long, angsty backstory: my landlords and their children continually violated our lease and state law, refused to comply when confronted about it, and generally made our lives miserable for several months.
Obviously, I moved out. However, about a week before I did so, my bike was stolen from the backyard. The night it was stolen, I came back, locked it up, and noticed that one of my landlords was sitting in the backyard reading. The next morning I was gone, and when I texted both of my landlords about it they claimed they didn't know anything. I filed a police report, posted to the local subreddit/biking group pages on Facebook, and didn't hear anything about after that. Bike theft is so huge where I live that I was almost certain that it had been sent to a chop shop and I would never see it again.
One of our roommates didn't move. He liked the house, and was pretty oblivious to the stuff that happened between us and the landlords so he didn't want to leave. He just moved back in for the fall semester, and invited us and some mutual friends over on Friday night. While we were sitting by the fire in his backyard, one of the new tenants rode up, parked his bike and walked inside. At the risk of stating the obvious at this point, it was my bike. Someone had very shoddily painted the wheelset a different color, but everything else was identical. My original college beater was a fairly unique, matte grey fixie with white toe-straps, purple Oury mountain bike grips, a tan Brooks C17 saddle, my girlfriend's old bike lights, and a distinctive white scratch on the top part of the frame. Additionally, both the frame and the saddle had a serial number which I had kept. It was unquestionably my bike.
I spent the last two days getting it back. The police were, for some reason, unable to enter the house to talk to the tenant who I saw riding it, and told me to let them know when I saw it chained up outside. I did. Twice. The first time he took it inside minutes later. The second time, I was told I could put my own lock on it to keep it there for the 30 minutes it would take an officer to arrive, and someone at the house cut the fence it was chained to in half and hid the bike again.
At this point, the police started suggesting that I pursue this on my own until they could locate the bike outside again. I texted both of my landlords and explained that I found it more than coincidental that my stolen bike was being ridden by one of their tenants, who also happened to be an old friend of theirs. An hour or so later, one of them texted me back claiming that they would "look into it", and "if you say it's yours maybe the thief felt guilty and returned it to the house". A few minutes later, they followed up with "Yes, it's your bike. It went unclaimed for a few weeks and the current tenant claimed it. Feel free to take it back I talked to him, he apologizes for painting the wheels and cutting it off the fence".
At this point, I'm not certain what to do. From my position, I can't help but feel that my landlord stole my bike and gave or sold it to his friend/new tenant thinking I would never come back to the house and see it. Inversely, the chances of someone being that ludicrously stupid are about as high as the chances of the thief selling my bike to someone that just so happened to end up living in the same house it was stolen from. While I obviously just want my bike back, I also don't want to take any more shit from them. Any suggestions? Am I insane here and is it actually more plausible that it's just a super unlikely set of coincidences?
Obviously, I moved out. However, about a week before I did so, my bike was stolen from the backyard. The night it was stolen, I came back, locked it up, and noticed that one of my landlords was sitting in the backyard reading. The next morning I was gone, and when I texted both of my landlords about it they claimed they didn't know anything. I filed a police report, posted to the local subreddit/biking group pages on Facebook, and didn't hear anything about after that. Bike theft is so huge where I live that I was almost certain that it had been sent to a chop shop and I would never see it again.
One of our roommates didn't move. He liked the house, and was pretty oblivious to the stuff that happened between us and the landlords so he didn't want to leave. He just moved back in for the fall semester, and invited us and some mutual friends over on Friday night. While we were sitting by the fire in his backyard, one of the new tenants rode up, parked his bike and walked inside. At the risk of stating the obvious at this point, it was my bike. Someone had very shoddily painted the wheelset a different color, but everything else was identical. My original college beater was a fairly unique, matte grey fixie with white toe-straps, purple Oury mountain bike grips, a tan Brooks C17 saddle, my girlfriend's old bike lights, and a distinctive white scratch on the top part of the frame. Additionally, both the frame and the saddle had a serial number which I had kept. It was unquestionably my bike.
I spent the last two days getting it back. The police were, for some reason, unable to enter the house to talk to the tenant who I saw riding it, and told me to let them know when I saw it chained up outside. I did. Twice. The first time he took it inside minutes later. The second time, I was told I could put my own lock on it to keep it there for the 30 minutes it would take an officer to arrive, and someone at the house cut the fence it was chained to in half and hid the bike again.
At this point, the police started suggesting that I pursue this on my own until they could locate the bike outside again. I texted both of my landlords and explained that I found it more than coincidental that my stolen bike was being ridden by one of their tenants, who also happened to be an old friend of theirs. An hour or so later, one of them texted me back claiming that they would "look into it", and "if you say it's yours maybe the thief felt guilty and returned it to the house". A few minutes later, they followed up with "Yes, it's your bike. It went unclaimed for a few weeks and the current tenant claimed it. Feel free to take it back I talked to him, he apologizes for painting the wheels and cutting it off the fence".
At this point, I'm not certain what to do. From my position, I can't help but feel that my landlord stole my bike and gave or sold it to his friend/new tenant thinking I would never come back to the house and see it. Inversely, the chances of someone being that ludicrously stupid are about as high as the chances of the thief selling my bike to someone that just so happened to end up living in the same house it was stolen from. While I obviously just want my bike back, I also don't want to take any more shit from them. Any suggestions? Am I insane here and is it actually more plausible that it's just a super unlikely set of coincidences?
