Julie Curry was looking forward to riding the e-bike she bought as a treat for herself after undergoing sinus surgery and recovering from a broken foot.
“I finally got back to work so I treated myself,” the White Rock woman told Peace Arch News this week of the purchase she made just before Christmas.
Now, Curry is wondering if she’ll ever ride it.
The e-bike, a candy-apple-red Gio that she bought off of Craigslist, was stolen from the gated underground parkade of her Blackwood Street condominium building last weekend; between 9 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday. It had been tucked at the back, in “the safest spot,” she noted.
“I got the call at noon (April 7), saying ‘Julie, did you move your e-bike?'” Curry said.
The theft has been reported to police, but Sgt. Joel Glen said officers have no leads yet on who took it.
“There was no evidence left at the scene… that would give us anything to go on,” Glen told PAN Wednesday.
While Curry said she has heard there have been a number of break-ins in the city recently, Glen said police have not seen a significant spike.
At the same time, he said it is not unusual for such crimes to increase at this time of year.
“As the weather improves, it’s also nicer for the thieves out there to go to work as well,” Glen said.
Underground parkades, he noted, are not as secure as some may think. A few months ago, video surveillance at one parkade captured a suspect using a hacksaw on an aluminum gate to create a hole big enough to slide through. It “took him about 30 seconds,” Glen said.
In other cases, perpetrators wait for residents to leave and dash under the gate as it closes.
Glen described the theft of Curry’s bike as a good reminder for people to be vigilant with their vehicles’ security, including not leaving anything in sight that could tempt a thief.
“Anything that can be taken, they will take, if they want it bad enough,” he said. “It costs a bad guy nothing to throw a rock through your window and take a toonie off your console.”
Curry is hopeful that someone saw whoever took her bike, or knows where it is now.
“It’s not something you’d forget,” she said of the e-bike’s bright colour.
Anyone with information is asked to contact White Rock RCMP at 778-593-3600.
