There is some good in the world after all.
“We got the bike back,” Frances Nuttgens confirmed earlier this week.
After word got out that a 12-year-old Duncan boy had his new custom-fit bicycle stolen from his yard before he’d even had a chance to ride it, citizens took to Facebook to try to zero in on just who took it. There were sightings about town so folks knew it was out there. Nobody seemed willing to ask for it back though.
Police had been called and did start an investigation, however.
SEE RELATED: Cowichan family devastated after 12-year-old’s new adapted bike stolen
Not long after the theft a Lake Cowichan man saw the bike for sale online. He didn’t know at the time it was stolen.
“The person [who presumably stole it] sold it on Kijiji,” Nuttgens explained.
“A man from Lake Cowichan bought it and once he got it home he looked at it and said he didn’t feel good about it. He had a funny feeling about it so he went on Facebook and started to look through Facebook and there it was.”
The man had bought the bike for $300 but gave Nuttgens a call to see if the bike could indeed be the missing one everyone was talking about online.
“He said ‘I’ve got the bike here if you’d like to come and see it and identify it and take it back to the boy,’ so I sent my niece up and it looked exactly the same. It was his bike,” Nuttgens said. “He said ‘just take it and give it back to the boy’.”
The bike has to go back to the shop for some repairs to the custom pedal but soon it’ll be back in the hands of its rightful owner, and a young man’s broken heart can begin to mend.
And while the man from Lake Cowichan is out some money and a new bike, Nuttgens said the Good Samaritan was pleased with the outcome.
“There’s some really good people out there and a very nice man,” she said. “I talked with him and his wife and they were just so happy that the boy went out for a ride on his bike in the sunshine.”
Nuttgens is grateful to the community for the support, first, for all the eyes keeping tabs on the bike as it moved through town but also for those who reached out with ideas for fundraisers and those wanting to donate and help to buy a new bike.
“I just wanted to thank the Cowichan Valley,” she said. “I really appreciate everyone and their thoughts.”
sarah.simpson@cowichanvalleycitizen.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
