'People Are Getting More Brazen': Aurora Residents Take Matters Into Their Own Hands, Tackle Bike Thief
(CBS4) - After months of dealing with bike thefts, community members at the Stanley Marketplace took matters into their own hands. Witnesses who saw a man cut the lock off a bicycle and begin to ride away chased the man down and held him on the ground until police arrived.
"People are getting more brazen. You hear more and more of things happening in broad daylight," said Lauren who asked that CBS4 only use her first name.
Lauren wasn't there for the action, but visits the location often and saw the photos online.
"Amazing, I think it's amazing those people did that," she said.
Agent Matt Longshore says Aurora police have been investigating bike thefts from the market and surrounding area for months, but have been unable to positively identify their suspect, until now.
"We definitely appreciate our community right they were looking out for each other and they helped us catch this guy," he said.
Alec Jackson is now behind bars and believed to be responsible for more than 100 other bike thefts. Right now, only the one has been recovered.
"We don't know if he was taking the parts off to sell the parts individually. Maybe he was giving these bikes out to friends of his, right, so these are all types of things we are going to be looking into," Longshore said.
Arrested for larceny, Longshore says the charges against Jackson are likely to change.
"Some of these bikes are worth thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars that have been stolen. It's on our detectives to hopefully piece the case together," he said.
And much like the police, other cyclists like Lauren are thanking those who jumped in.
"There needs to be more people who are brave enough to stand up when they see something happening," she said.
While the citizens in this case were able to work together against the thief, police do not encourage anyone or get involved in these types of situations or try and recover items on their own.
If you had your bike stolen from this area and did not report it to the police, please contact PAR Officer Knox.