Adelaide Woman's DIY Investigation Leads to Arrest in Bike Theft Case

A dramatic turn of events unfolded in Adelaide's Mile End after a woman had two bikes stolen from her backyard, prompting her to take matters into her own hands and track down one of the stolen vehicles.

Koral Chandler, a Mile End resident, returned home on Wednesday afternoon to find her roller door open and two bikes, including an e-bike, missing from her backyard. "I immediately had that horrible drop in my stomach," she said. "I have one really special road bike that I like to ride and we have a beautiful e-bike that I get the kids to and from school on."

Ms Chandler uses the e-bike to take her kids to school. The e-bike was bought second-hand earlier this year when fuel prices spiked. "It was two-and-a-half grand," she said. "Not as high-priced as some of the ones I see around here, but still quite a hefty chunk."

Undeterred by the theft, Ms Chandler began calling local pawnbrokers and, within hours, tracked the road bike to a Cash Converters outlet. "They were so excited to help. They called immediately, they made sure everything was alright, they got the police involved," she said.

However, the e-bike was not at the store, and Ms Chandler suspects it may have ended up at another retailer. "The independent pawnbrokers were a little bit less willing to help," she said. "One of them let me know that if they accidentally accept stolen goods they don't get the money back, if they have to give them back, and so they were far less willing to tell me whether they had the bike."

Ms Chandler put a call out on Instagram, asking anyone who saw her "beloved bikes" — a Giant OCR2 and an Aventon Abound — to contact her. She reported the thefts to police, suggesting "one or two" businesses for them to check. "SAPOL have actually been really great, but I'm aware that they can be quite under-resourced for these kinds of things," she said.

In a statement, SA Police confirmed they had received information "that one of the bikes had been presented to a second-hand dealer at Torrensville" and that they were investigating. A 44-year-old man from Mile End was arrested and charged with theft and other unrelated matters. Police said the man would appear in court in November.

Police also issued advice to victims of theft and to pawnbrokers, saying that the latter were required to keep detailed records of all transactions and "notify the police if they suspect that goods are stolen". "Victims who have had items stolen are best placed to identify their stolen property and can alert police if stolen property is located for sale, to which police are able to investigate," they said. "Anyone who locates their stolen property is urged to contact police on the Police Assistance Line on 131 444 and to allow police to appropriately investigate rather than attending and retrieving stolen property themselves."