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West Kelowna  

Shop boss takes down thief

UPDATE: 3:30 p.m. 

West Kelowna RCMP say they were called to a report of a mountain bike theft in progress at 11:20 a.m. Monday.

The bike had allegedly been stolen from City Pawn West Kelowna on the 2200 block of Moose Road.

“Police have determined that the suspect had been followed from the scene by an eye witness to the theft,” says Const. Jesse O'Donaghey.

“However, the witness lost sight of the youth suspect, who ditched the stolen bike and fled on foot into a mobile home park in the 2000 block of Highway 97 south.”

O'Donaghey says officers attended the area, quickly located and arrested the suspect without incident.

A 17-year-old man from West Kelowna faces potential charges including theft under $5,000 and failure to comply with a probation order.

He remains in custody at this time.


ORIGINAL: 1 p.m.

A West Kelowna pawn shop owner took matters into his own hands Monday morning after a man took off on a piece of his merchandise.

Steve Fosbery of City Pawn Brokers says he jumped in his car and chased down a man who had grabbed a $400 mountain bike out front of his store and rode off.

“We had bikes out front for sale and a young kid, probably 19 or so, ran up, grabbed one of the bikes and ran off,” said Fosbery.

“I hopped in my car and followed him and managed to get him off the bike. I pulled in front of him and jumped out and got him off the bike.”

The suspect then took off running and stole a second bike from a nearby yard and rode away again.

Fosbery wasn't about to let the man get away, so he jumped on his original mountain bike and chased him again while calling 911.

“I hopped on the bike he had stolen and called 911,” said Fosbery. “We managed to corner him, and three cop cars showed up and they arrested the guy about three or four miles from the store.”

The man was taken into custody, and police told Fosbery he has an extensive criminal record and was wanted on other outstanding issues.

“It's nice to catch a guy.... It's nice to get a guy down."

“Our bike thefts are just through the roof through the Central Okanagan. So, being able to catch a guy and get some coverage that there are proactive people trying to run these guys down,” said Fosbery.



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