That’s Some Police Work

A couple weekends ago, my family and I were vacationing in Santa Barbra staying at the Santa Barbara Hilton. It was my daughter’s birthday, and we drove down from the San Francisco Bay Area to have a nice weekend vacation. Well, it started when I woke up Saturday morning, May 1, and looked out my hotel room window. Two of my bikes had been stolen from the back of my van.

The first thing I did was contact hotel security. They took a report and told me to file a report via the Santa Barbara Police Department online system when I returned home.

Well, my wife, Laurie, and I were very disappointed and decided that we didn’t want this incident to disrupt the remainder of our weekend. We decided to get some lunch and walked down to State Street.

On our way, my daughter heard my cell phone ring, but I missed the call. Sean Duckworth, a customer representative from Mike’s Bikes back home, had left me a voicemail asking me to return his call about my bikes. I immediately called him back, and Sean asked if my bikes had been stolen. I confirmed they’d been stolen that morning. He then told me that they were recovered by Santa Barbara PD, and I should be expecting a call back from SBPD.

The next call was from Officer Christine Ortega, who asked me several questions and said to come for my bikes later that afternoon. At the police department, Officer Ortega shared the story on the bike’s recovery:

That morning, a couple of the officers decided to catch an early morning breakfast. As they went to sit down, they heard a loud shrieking yell and ran outside. Two transients, one with a gash in his head, were arguing. One of the officers noticed two high-end and shiny bikes and asked them where they got the bikes. Of course, they didn’t provide them with an answer. An arrest was made, and the bikes were taken back to the property room.

This is when Officer Ortega started her search. She scanned for police reports and also called some local bike shops. Then she noticed Mike’s Bikes emblems on the bikes’ down tubes. She Googled Mike’s Bikes and spoke with Sean, provided him with the serial numbers, and Sean found my name and contact information.

The rest is history, but the coordination between Mike’s Bikes and the Santa Barbara Police Department was amazing. The bikes were stolen between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m., they were recovered by SBPD at 7:45 a.m., and were delivered to me at 3:30 p.m. the same day.

Yes, I did take a ride down Cabrillo along the beach with my family the following day.

The Santa Barbara PD are great!!!!!