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Student's Online Investigation Helps Police Capture Suspected Serial Bike Thief

Wayne Cron
Wayne Cron (credit: Boulder County Sheriff)

BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) - A Boulder man who had his expensive bike ripped off on the University of Colorado campus says he had all but given up hope of recovering it when suddenly he stumbled across an ad on eBay.

Nicolais Bayou, a CU student, had spent $3,000 on his mountain bike. He reported the theft to police, and then did his own online investigation.

"I set up ads on Craigslist all across Colorado and so every day I would get emails and I was like 'Ah, that's not my bike,' " Bayou said.

A few months later he stumbled across a video on eBay and he knew right away the bike was his. The serial number also matched.

"We have success stories from other states where bikes have ended up in Arizona or on the East Coast and we've been able to track them down and return them to their owner," University of Colorado police spokesman Ryan Huff said. Huff encouraged bike owners to register their bikes so they can be more easily located if stolen.

Investigators say Bayou's bike had been sold to a pawn shop by Wayne Cron, who police described as a transient.

Cron, 40, is charged with three felonies so far, and more charges are pending in five states.

Cron has been arrested twice in the past in bike theft cases.

Bayou said a few parts on the bike were missing when he got it back. He says the repairs totaled up to about $600.

Additional Resources

Authorities released the following information in a bulletin about this case:

The CU Police Department asks students, faculty and staff to register their bicycle's serial number at the CU Bike Station, just east of the University Memorial Center. If their bikes are ever stolen, police have a better chance of finding them by accessing a nationwide database. For other safety tips, please visit the UCPD website's bike theft prevention page at bit.ly/CUBikeSafety.

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