"Tweet justice" for Colo. woman who tracked down suspected bike thief, and bike, via twitter

(CBS/AP) BOULDER, Colo. - A Boulder woman says her savvy social media skills are what reunited her with a stolen bike.

The Daily Camera reports 30-year-old Elaine Ellis returned home Saturday morning to find that her bike lock had been ripped out of a brick wall and her $500 bike was missing.

Let the tweeting begin!

Ellis quickly tweeted news of her missing cycle Monday morning and included a cell phone photo a neighbor took of the thief as the crime was happening.

As reported by the newspaper, less than five hours after she sent out the tweet, one of her Twitter followers spotted the suspected thief and informed police.

She also included a link to her blog, where she'd posted the cell phone photo that her neighbor took.

Within hours, one of Ellis' 3,391 Twitter followers spotted a man matching that photo riding her bike along the Boulder Creek Path. The police were notified, and that sighting led to an arrest.

Officers arrested 41-year-old transient David Carroll Oldham on suspicion of theft.

"Got my bike back!!!" Ellis tweeted Monday evening, according to the Daily Camera. "4.5 hours after my blog post. Well done Boulder."

Ellis is a social media manager and has more than 3,000 followers.

Legal experts say members of the public who can navigate popular social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook now have access to some of the same methods law enforcement utilizes to crack cases.

Boulder police, while welcoming the help, do stress that amateur sleuths should call 911 rather than approaching suspected criminals on their own, the Daily Camera reported.