Oct 7, 2008 5:47 pm US/Mountain
Bike Shop Owner Finds Missing Bike, Thief On eBay
Online Sting Leads To Arrest Of New Jersey Man
RANDOLPH, N.J. (CBS) ―
It has been said that you can find practically anything on the Internet.
That was certainly true for the owner of a bike shop in New Jersey, who not only found his stolen bike online but also its alleged thief.
Marty Epstein still can't believe someone could steal a $7,700 bike out of his Randolph store without being noticed.
"The bike was right here on the sales floor," Epstein said.
But what shocked him even more was when he saw the bike on eBay.
"We called the Randolph police and said we think we know where the bike is," Epstein said.
That's when police and the prosecutor's office set up a sting operation, had an undercover officer pose as a potential buyer and nabbed the alleged thief -- identified as John Granda of Hackettstown.
"The guy had listed it for $6,500," Epstein said. "They said we'll give you $5,500 cash. They met him at a strip mall in Montville and they did the exchange and as soon as they did the exchange they looked at the serial number on the bike and it matched the serial number we provided them with."
Police said Granda grabbed the bike and just walked out of the store.
"When we spoke to him his reasoning was that he was in some hard financial times and that he was hoping the cash he would get from the sell of the bike would help him pay bills," Sgt. David Stokoe said.
Granda, who had his 5-year-old daughter with him when he was arrested, has apparently done a lot of business on eBay, where customers gave him high points for delivering goods. He's been charged with one count of possessing stolen property.
CBS station WCBS-TV in New York City was unable to get comment from Granda and eBay, the world's largest online shopping and auction Web site.
The eBay connection also led to the arrest of a TSA screener at Newark Airport.
Pythias Brown, 48, faces 10 years in prison for stealing more than 100 items from unsuspecting passengers and trying to sell them on the auction site.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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