Penticton woman tracks suspect to recover stolen bicycle

PENTICTON – A Penticton woman’s determination resulted in the return of a stolen bicycle yesterday.

Shawnda Henderson says her daughter’s boyfriend, Clinton, had his $3,000 bike stolen from his garage earlier this week.

“I sympathized with him, because we had a bike stolen once. I told him if I saw the bike I would track that person down,” she says, adding she had a feeling she was going to see it somewhere in the city.

Yesterday, Oct. 6, Shawnda was driving to her mother’s around 11 a.m. when she saw two people riding bikes.

“They were on bikes – not necessarily their bikes,” she laughs, adding, “I said to myself, my god, that’s Clinton’s bike.”

The bike has a distinctive paint job and was easy to identify.

Shawnda turned into a nearby gas station, her heart pounding as she decided to stay with the cyclists. She tracked the two riders to Unity House on Skaha Lake Road, parked nearby and called police.

“The 911 operator said she would send someone. My adrenaline was running pretty strong, I wasn’t sure what I might be getting into,” she says.

Shawnda stood near the bike and decided to call her mom and Clinton as back up.

“Clinton answered his phone and came right over,” she says, adding police arrived a few minutes later.

Clinton’s serial number for the bike, reported when stolen, matched and the bike was returned.

“Good things do happen,” Shawnda says.

RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Don Wrigglesworth says the person in possession of the bike claimed he had borrowed it from another man. He says police found insufficient evidence to lay charges due to the man’s mental capacity.

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