Winnipeg mom gets her son’s stolen bike back with the help of bodybuilders

Thanks to a resourceful mom, two bodybuilders and a Kijiji ad, a 13-year-old boy in Winnipeg got his bike back six-months after it was stolen.

Back in April, Krystile De Leon’s 13-year-old son had his bike stolen from the front of his high school. The bike went missing from the front of John Henderson Junior High School along with two others which belonged to his friends. The two other bikes were eventually recovered but De Leon didn’t think her sons bike would ever turn up as Global  News first reported.

Six months later, a Kijiji ad for a similar looking bike put them on the trail of the the stolen bike. De Leon’s friend spotted the bike on the online classified site. Stickers which he had been placed on the handlebars were still there allowing for it to be easily identified as belonging to her son.

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De Leon contacted the seller posing as a teenage boy interested in purchasing the bike. She was able to set up an in person meeting but instead of going alone brought two friends in an effort to get her sons bike back.

De Leon recruited two bodybuilder friends to accompany her to the meeting. Original receipt in hand, they arrived to inspect the bike. A match in the serial number confirmed it was in fact the bike stolen six months earlier.

“I told the person, this is my son’s bike and that they are in possession of a stolen item,” De Leon told Global News. She explained what would happen next, “We can go the easy way or the hard way. Either or, I’m not leaving without this bike nor am I paying for it.”

The bike was immediately and peacefully handed over.

The happy ending is a cautionary tale to other bike owners to not only hold onto the original receipt of their bike but to also record the serial number. In the case of theft this makes a bike much easier for owners and law enforcement to recover.

Global News spoke to a police officer who further explained. “There’s been a lot of bike’s stolen in the city,” said Winnipeg Police Cst. Jay Murray. “Unfortunately, we find a lot of bikes and the serial number is not recorded so there’s only so much we can do in terms of investigation.”