At some point these thieves get discouraged by intense police efforts to patrol pawn shops, and they end up selling the bikes on the street to someone for a measly few dollars. Van Horn says more people than you think will take advantage of a street sale. But they also love a good deal. He says UTPD catches about 60 people a year in the act of stealing bikes, sometimes with stolen bikes actually in their possession. Unfortunately, if the bike is not registered with police, officers often have no way of proving the person has actually stolen it.
Bike theft is classified legally as theft.
Possible penalties depend on the value of the stolen item, but the crime is almost always a misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum of six months in jail. But police say that most people in possession of stolen bikes are never prosecuted, since it's usually impossible to prove they actually took them. The realization that it's gone sinks in. You scan the landscape, hoping to catch a glimpse of someone pedaling leisurely on your bike so that you can chase them down with a T.J. Hooker sprint and tackle them. But most often you're left wondering what to do next.