MILLCREEK, Utah -- A bike shop owner in Millcreek with a pricey bike was the perfect target for a thief, according to officials with the Unified Police Department.
The owner of 2nd Tracks Sports had her bike stolen right outside the store last Friday, just a few minutes after she had locked it up.
“Oh, I was so bummed,” Katy Jackson said.
Jackson had just stopped at the store briefly to drop something off that afternoon. She locked her bike on the back of her car, as she always did, and went inside her office.
“Within 15 minutes, it was gone,” she said.
The bike, which cost approximately $8,000, was custom-made for Jackson by the mechanics in her shop. It took approximately a month to design, as the pieces came from all around the country.
“It was just built from scratch, every part was different,” Head Mechanic Elliot Doe said. “It didn’t come from a manufacturer, built like that. It was built kind of exactly how she wanted it.”
Based on surveillance video captured from outside the store, Jackson believes the thief, a male, was targeting her.
“He actually circled the building three times,” Jackson said. “And then, I think he parked his car and got on the bus.”
The footage shows the male exiting a bus and walking around the back of Jackson’s building, toward her car. He exits the frame for approximately 20 seconds, before making his getaway on her bicycle.
“I looked and my lock was hanging on the ground, with my bike gone,”Jackson said. “He cut the lock and just popped it off.”
Jackson is offering a $500 reward to anyone with information that leads to an arrest.
“I hope that we can prevent 20 other bikes from being stolen,” she said.
If Jackson can’t help prevent another bike theft, she hopes to at least make it easier for victims to replace their stolen rides. The store will now offer anyone who has had their bike stolen a 10 percent discount on their next bike purchase. You must have a copy of a police report, in order to show proof of the theft.
