Steve Beisner had just put in security cameras because someone stole a bike from his garage.
Then it happened again. But this time he’s got the video.
“He comes right in, flips the towel off, flips the bike around. and rides off,” he said.
We are hiding the identity of the bike thief because he’s likely underage.
But his image is all over the Water’s Edge neighborhood Facebook page. Quickly after the post went up, people recognized him.
“I grabbed the images, threw them up on Facebook and within the hour had several responses of who they thought the kid was. That has grown to numerous people saying exactly who he is,” Beisner said.
Beisner turned his detective work over to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, which is still investigating.
Although he hasn’t been arrested yet, the thief could face felony charges because he went inside the garage to steal that bike.
We’ve seen cases of neighborhoods policing themselves before. Surveillance cameras in Trinity caught a kid stealing beer and wine coolers from a garage refrigerator. That led to an arrest.
The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office said it is all for the citizen sleuthing, as long as victims don’t take things too far.
“When somebody does do something on social media like find information about a suspect, it’s best they contact the Sheriff’s Office with that information and not take matters into their own hands,” Deputy Ron Buzzetto said.
Many neighborhoods now have community Facebook pages to share information about thefts and suspicious characters.
There is another social media site called NextDoor that is more private.
Meanwhile, after losing two bikes, Steve is done leaving the garage door open.
