His efforts prompted a Santa Cruz police sting to recover the stolen property and arrest the man suspected of fencing the custom bike last week, police reported. Steve Clark said. An undercover officer arranged to purchase the bicycle, then notified uninformed officers nearby.
Scott was arrested on suspicion of possessing stolen property and booked into County Jail, according to Clark. Someone who buys stolen property can end up an innocent victim of the theft, according to police. Those purchasers could lose both the property and the money he or she paid for it, should the stolen items be identified and returned to their rightful owners.
Clark said people can go so far as to ask police to determine if the items have been reported stolen. He said he was shopping online for a used ping-pong table for his kids and came across a great offer from a local seller. So he stopped by the Police Department to make sure no one locally had reported a stolen ping-pong table. He was in the clear, so he made the purchase. People selling items on sites like craigslist and eBay are, sometimes, trying to unload stolen property on unsuspecting buyers.
Watch for clear markings that the property belonged to someone β like names written on it β and ask if the seller is that person. When in doubt, contact the Santa Cruz police or your local law enforcement agency to see if the item has been reported stolen. By Jennifer Squires. More in News.
