An extraordinary measure to get this bike back to its owner in Seattle

A Seattle cyclist did something that could have landed him in handcuffs had it been under different circumstances.

When Scott Gamble was approached by a man he described as a “crackhead” carrying bolt cutters and selling a bike in a Fremont parking lot, he purchased it.

“I’ve had people try to steal my bike twice in one day,” he told KIRO 7.

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But Gamble never intended on keeping the bike. Instead, he began looking for the owner of the 1980’s-era Trek 620, posting an ad on Craigslist that is offering the bike to the owner for free.

“I don’t want a darn thing for it, I just want to get it back in the right hands, and I hope someone would do the same for me,” he said.

It’s a sentiment KIRO Radio’s John Curley can appreciate. Curley’s Bottecchia bicycle was stolen years ago. He went around to all the bike shops, asking if they had seen it or purchased the bike. No luck.

But a year later he received a call. A bike shop owner had the bike and was stalling the bike thief, waiting for police to arrive.

“The store owner noticed this guy had no idea what he was doing,” Curley said. “So he calls the cops and me.”

The thief was arrested and charged for stealing an $8,000 bike. Needless to say, neither the thief or the police could believe how much his bike was worth.