A West Kelowna resident was devastated when her e-bike was stolen from the Walmart parking lot in broad daylight on Tuesday afternoon at about 4:30 p.m.

Monique Losier shops at the Banks Road location often, but it's the first time this has ever happened to her. 

The new e-bike was forcibly broken off of its secure bike rack, just months after Losier purchased it as an item she could still enjoy with her significant ankle injury.

"About four years ago I had quite a bad ankle injury that I sustained. Within those four years, I’ve been through 8 surgeries on it, a double fusion, so I don’t have movement in it which limits me."

"So, a couple of months ago I was fortunate enough to save up enough money to purchase this e-bike which gave me all of this freedom that I haven’t had in four years."

"I can’t go hiking or things like that anymore that I used to do a lot of, so this e-bike I could literally get on it and go 30 to 40 kilometres for a ride. Not just for physical health but for my mental health, to be able to get outside in the fresh air, just move my body again and find a hobby that I really enjoyed doing. It was awesome, so it was devastating to see my bike that it was gone ... my first thought was just like, what am I going to do now?"

She was only in Walmart for about 30 minutes, and had even backed her vehicle into a bush to provide further protection in addition to the secured bike rack. 

When she realized the bike was missing, she contacted the RCMP non-emergency line to report the incident, and posted on Facebook asking her friends and family to keep an eye out. 

But later that afternoon RCMP members patrolling the Rail Trail on a golf cart called her with news they had found the bike, not far from where it was stolen.  

"They were amazing about it. I’m mind-blown at how quick and efficient they were. Knowing that they are keeping their eyes open and just the reassurance there are RCMP that are patrolling the Rail Trail on a golf cart is huge. I didn’t think I would get my bike back. I thought for sure it was gone - hundreds of bikes go missing in Kelowna. I was fortunate and blessed that mine was found so quickly."

She says if there’s one message she could give to the public, it would be to report any incidents you see.

"If you drive by and see something suspicious, report it. I don’t know if anybody saw what was happening, I was obviously in the store. But if you see something that looks suspicious - I know a lot of people don’t want to get involved - but it’s people’s belongings and you don’t know how much something can mean or how valuable something is to somebody until you know the story behind it. Please report it." 

Losier also encourages other bike owners to download the 529 Garage app to help RCMP officers match stolen bikes to owners more efficiently.