In The Media:
Lee Benson and the Deseret News:
Ownership hazy when it comes to 'hot' property - Deseret Morning News, Oct 5, 2007
Cycling Utah Magazine
Cycling Utah Mountain West Bicycling Journal - Letter to the Editor, October 2007 Issue
Feedback and Other Insight:
"Great website, great info, sorry about the loss of your bike. You didn't tell how they got into your garage. Is it so easy to break into a garage and not a front or back door? I would have thought inside my garage was as good as inside my house." - Sarah, in UT
Nice job! Easy to send what I hope are effective letters. Do most the SL Pawn Shop owners live in Provo??? Strange stuff. - Dave
"A few things of interest here. One, a pawn shop is considered a dealer, and is required to "license" EVERY bike they sell, as part of this they must conduct a "safety" inspection (including reflectors), although it does not specify that they need to correct any safety violations such as missing side reflectors.
Also, if "purchased" they would need to prove that they did not purchase from a "minor" so using the same rule as cigarettes, if under 30 they should get their id and write down the info?
Another thought here is that they would have security video of the suspect and/or a description, you'd think that they would remember him coming in to sell a 3k bike?
11.32.010 Bicycle dealer defined.
Any person engaged in the business of buying, selling, bartering or exchanging bicycles, whether dealing exclusively in bicycles or in conjunction with other merchandise, is declared to be a bicycle dealer. (Prior code § 21-8-1)
11.32.040 Dealer required to license and inspect bicycles.
A. All bicycle dealers shall inspect and license any new or used bicycles sold, bartered or exchanged by the dealer when the bicycle is purchased by or for use by, any resident of the county, or any unlicensed bicycle brought to the dealer for repair prior to the time of redelivery. The dealer shall not license bicycles purchased for use outside of the county’s geographical boundaries, but shall complete the license registration form and mail it to the appropriate police or sheriff’s department as provided in this chapter. Any required license shall be issued, completed and the license decal affixed by the dealer at a cost charged to the customer not to exceed one dollar.
B. At the time of sale, the dealer shall complete a bicycle license registration form supplied by Salt Lake City Corporation and available to the dealer at approximately the cost of production from the Salt Lake treasurer’s office. The license registration form shall be completed in triplicate and shall be produced in substantially the form provided for this section.
11.32.070 Dealing with minors restricted.
It is unlawful for any bicycle dealer, by himself, his agents, servants or employees, to purchase or receive from any minor any bicycle as a trade-in for another bicycle or as an outright purchase for cash, or as an exchange, or barter for another bicycle, without written consent of the parent or guardian of such minor. (Prior code § 21-8-6) - Dan in UT
"I happen to know exactly why this law was put in place and why it went from 30 days to only 10 day. You see the problem here is unfair advantage. Here is how it works, here in California. I, a pawnbroker/pawn shop owner, requier all my customers to show me a goverment issued ID to sell me anything, I have to hold that for 30 day before I'm aloud to sell it to anyone. In the mean time the transaction is reported to the police for them to do a check against stolen property reports. The ebay store owner, the secondhand store owner, or the swapmeet seller doesn't have to report or hold it for any period of time. We do over 40,000 transactions each year and would you believe that our police holds are only 10 to 15 items at any given period. This is a fact. Now, if a pawnshop is required to hold an item for any amount of time, he is not able to compite with an ebay store or a secondhand dealer that is not holding the item at all. They can buy it today and sell it for even one dollar more on the same day and get ahead.
I'm sorry your item was stolen, don't you think ebay should have a reporting system to check against a national database? They have billions and billions of transactions per month, even 1% of recovery will be a larger number then haveing only 1% of the industry upheld to a higher standart". - Art in CA
"Great site - thanks for putting this info out there. I have a suggestion to add: ALWAYS lock your bike to something solid (not just to itself), even if it's stored inside your house or in your garage. I had a valuable bike stolen out of my locked studio a few years ago when my house was broken in to. It was parked right next to an immovable 200-lb industrial fan that I could have easily locked it to, but because the bike was stored inside the house it never occurred to me to lock it up. The thief loaded up my panniers and giant messenger bag with other assorted valuables and rode off on my bike! I always lock my new bike now, no matter where it is." - Tina in CA
"Brian, You should be ashamed! You have taken the business name of a honest young man and are doing your best to harm that business which helps support his young family. Those ebay links show his ebay name and open to his current auctions all of which are part of a bike rental shop's fleet. There is no chance that they are stolen bikes. [Ed. Omitted] has sold several hundreds of bikes under the [Ed. Omitted] name and another name (that thank goodness you don't know and so can't slander and/or libel it also) and of those hundreds because of his care and dilegence only 3 have been stolen. [Ed.-Still anywhere from 1 - 3%] The first incident was 1 or 2 years ago and he voluntarily gave the bike back losing his money invested and angering the ebay bidder who was mad about not getting the bike he won which resulted in him leaving [Ed. Omitted] negative feedback.
You mentioned karma well, I also believe that what you put out into the universe you get back in kind and as you once said to [Ed. Omitted] ...
WATCH OUT!!.... you will get what you deserve for what you have done and are doing.
I am anonymous because I am aprehensive of you; knowing that you make threats, lie and have no regard for hurting others even though you obviously know what it feels like to be a victim. why do want the new and innocent owner of the Kestrel to suffer? he bought the bike used the same as you did. Talk about sour grapes! Please try to grow up.I hope you are not typical of road bikers." - In A Rage
[Editors Note: Points duly noted, any reference to the eBay seller have been omitted. To my knowledge no threat was ever made by me to the eBay seller, and I've attempted throughout the site to note that as the law stands today he has done no wrong doing.
I've also noted in the details of the story my 'lie.' In my initial contact with him I concocted an overly-circuitous story and told him I was from California. This was under the advice of the police who recommended for my own protection I don't say I am local and to prevent flight if the seller knew he had stolen goods. They also said to not tip him off that I knew it was my bike by saying before he posted pictures "Hey is that my stolen 61CM Green Kestrel with a mountain bike stem?" I've never been a good liar so it obviously didn't work.
Further correspondence with her reveals that she apparently believes I retain editorial privilege over Lee Benson's newspaper column. Unfortunately I do not.
As far as karma, I don't know much about that, and usually don't make reference to it, but I'm sure I'll get whatever I deserve (bad karma to date has mainly come in the form of hair loss and stolen property). Yeesh.]