Thieves Use Bus To Hit Bike Store, Owner Worries It's Part Of A Scheme
LITTLETON, Colo. (CBS4) - Thieves went to extreme lengths to get into a Littleton bike store. They rammed a shuttle bus through the front of the store. It happened early Sunday morning at BikeSource near West Bowles Avenue and Wadsworth Boulevard.
Store manager Mike Hernandez was the first to get a look at the damage.
"Literally the whole store front is moved in," he said.
Hernandez says thieves targeted the store before, but he has never seen an entrance like this.
"They backed the van up and just slammed the van into the front of the store," he said.
The van is more like a shuttle bus, presumably stolen. The words National Sports Center for the Disabled are scrolled across the side.
"If you watch back here you can see how much force they actually ram that door with," Hernandez said watching video surveillance of the thieves in action.
Three people jump out of the bus. Their faces are covered with masks, and they are wearing gloves and moving fast. Without looking around, they go straight for the most expensive bikes.
"They ran to a specific bike, a Santa Cruz Bronson with carbon wheels. The guy sees it and is really excited and then sees that it's locked," he said.
The same thing happens to one of the other accomplices, and he throws it to the ground, but rather than leave empty handed, the trio takes what they can get.
Even as the three bikes were all locked together and tough to move, the store still lost $13,000. It was an expensive hit, and the second one they have taken.
"Their M.O. does seem to be the same, a group between two and four guys. They use stolen vehicles. They are in and out really fast. It's always around 2 or 3 in the morning, a lot of that stuff just adds up," Hernandez said.
A second BikeSource in Highlands Ranch and competitors across the Front Range have seen it as well, raising the question among the industry, could it all be connected?
"Who knows where they are going, but it seems like it's part of a bigger thing," he said.
While they try to work out repairs, Hernandez says the store is still open for business.
