Had a Bike Stolen? The Sheriff's Department Might Have it

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has recovered around 50 bicycles in a bike burglary sting, and is looking for owners who might have had their bikes stolen.

Three men were arrested at a bike owner's home in Rancho Cucamonga as they were preparing to enter a garage and steal a bike. The group had been repeatedly posing as potential bike buyers on Craigslist, and then establishing enough information about the buyer to find their addresses.  

They also used publicly posted information on Facebook and the White Pages website to find people selling bikes, according to a news statement from the department.

The trio would then take the stolen goods, which were usually high-end bikes worth $5,000 to $15,000, and sell them at a bike shop at 5156 Venice Blvd. in Los Angeles.

Julian Herrera, 23, of Los Angeles, Jaime Herrera, 21, of Panorama City
and Alberto Mejia, 24, of Colton have all been arrested and are currently housed in San Bernardino County jail. Charges are pending against the owner of the bikeshop, according to the County's news statement.

Anyone in San Bernardino, Los Angeles, or Orange County who posted an ad selling a bike and later had it stolen could be a victim, according to Lt. Kent Wegener of the Sheriff's Department.

Investigators have traced burglaries to Agoura Hills, Westlake Village, Woodland Hills, Santa Clarita, Whittier, Oak Park, Temecula, Murrieta, Irvine, Fountain Valley, San Bernardino, Thousand Oaks, and Torrey Pines, according to the department.

However, according to Wegener, there may be additional victims in other areas that the department does not know about.

Anyone who might be a victim should call the department at (562) 946-7893. Victims should have the brand, model and serial number of their bicycles at hand, as well as the police report number documenting the theft.

So far, the department has tracked down about 15 victims and returned bikes to them, Wegener said, adding that the total value of the bikes was more than $100,000.