Bait Bike Busts Five Suspected Bike Thieves

Last weekend, five suspected bike thieves picked the wrong bicycle.

On January 27th and January 28th, 2017 the Santa Cruz Police Department Neighborhood Enforcement Team (NET) and the Alcohol Enforcement Unit conducted a collaborative bait bike operation. A police bait bike was placed in various locations throughout the downtown area to see if any suspected bicycle thieves would take the bait. Within several minutes, local thieves tried to steal the bait bike.

Ladonia Miller, 40 years old, a transient from Santa Cruz

Ladonia Miller was seen stealing the bicycle and arrested for grand theft as well as possession of methamphetamine.

Michael France, 30 years old, a transient from Santa Cruz

Michael France found in possession of the bicycle and arrested for grand theft.

Terry Ford, 42 years old, a Santa Cruz resident

Terry Ford was seen stealing the bicycle and arrested for grand theft and a probation violation.
 

Shad Stephens, 37 years old, transient from Santa Cruz

Shad Stephens was seen stealing the bicycle and arrested for grand theft, a probation violation and possession of multiple controlled substances for sale.

Derek Marquette, 40 years old, transient from Santa Cruz

Derek Marquette was found in possession of the bicycle and arrested for possession of stolen property and possession of multiple controlled substances for sale.

Bicycle theft is an ongoing issue that affects so many residents of Santa Cruz. The Santa Cruz Police Department is committed to addressing bike theft. The Neighborhood Enforcement Team conducts ongoing operations in direct response to the needs of the community.

The Santa Cruz Police Department recovers hundreds of bikes every year, but since many are unregistered by serial number, the police have no way to track down the owners. Improve the chances your bicycle gets returned by registering it for FREE on Santa Cruz Police Department’s online bicycle registration program. http://www.cityofsantacruz.com/departments/police/bicycle-license-registration Residents can also register their bikes FREE at the police department.

SCPD is dedicated to our community with ongoing efforts to keep Santa Cruz a safe place to live, work and raise a family. Please continue to contact SCPD when suspicious activity occurs in your neighborhood.

Great Patrol Work Captures Suspect That Took Bike From a Backyard in Middle of the Night

Great patrol work by Officer Ben Whaley results in the arrest of a bike theft suspect and 2 of the suspect’s cohorts. 

While most of us are asleep comfortably in our homes, there is a whole crew of dedicated SCPD Officers working to keep the city safe and respond to your needs.  Officer Ben Whaley is one of those dedicated officers. 

Officer Whaley was called to take a bike theft report at 1:30 AM in the 900 block of Cayuga Street.  The victim was awakened by the sound of someone going through her backyard.  She caught a glimpse of the suspect taking her bicycle from the backyard and riding away. 

While Officer Whaley took the report, other officers circulated the area to no avail.  After completing the report, Officer Whaley kept an eagle eye for any suspicious looking characters out in the early morning hours. 

At about 2:20 AM, Officer Whaley spotted our suspect along with two of his drug-using cohorts in the Chevron lot at Ocean and Soquel.  They were at the Chevron putting air in the tire of the bicycle they had stolen just an hour before. 

Officer Whaley (and a few of his friends in blue) stopped our suspects in the Chevron lot.  Our suspect makes up a story about owning the bicycle and buying it a week and a half ago.  The bicycle had some distinctive features, so we knew his story was rated a solid “4 Pinocchio’s” on the liar scale. 

We called the victim and she shows up to positively ID her bicycle and provide pictures for proof.  Thanks to Officer Whaley, she gets her bike back which was otherwise doomed to a “rattle can” flat-black spray paint job. 

Turns out our suspect is (drumroll please)…….on Probation.  He has a long, long history of arrests with our department alone.  This makes his 4^th arrest this year.  He is identified as

Gabriel (Gabe) Langan – 24 years old – Transient

Mr. Langan was arrested for Possession of Stolen Property, Theft, and Violation of Probation. 

Now for his two friends.

Mr. Donovan Dehart was in the company of Mr. Langan.   

Turns out he had a warrant for his arrest out of Campbell, CA for drug charges.  Not only that, but he was in possession of drug paraphernalia and heroin.  Mr. Dehart was promptly taken into custody and booked in jail. 

Mr. Caleb McGuire was also contacted with our suspects.   

Mr. McGuire is also on Probation.  He too, has a history of multiple arrests and this occasion memorialized his 4^th arrest by SCPD this year.  Mr. McGuire was found in possession of drug paraphernalia.  He too was arrested. 

Great work by Officer Whaley and our brave victim. 

Help Us FInd This Bike Theft Suspect

When it comes to the low-down dirty things you can do….stealing a kid’s bike is one of them.  

On Monday (September 8^th) at about 6:00 PM, we took a report from a 13 year old young man who was at Safeway on Mission Street getting groceries for his family.  While he was inside the store, this guy stole his bicycle:

The suspect is captured on store video taking the bicycle from the bike rack.  The image we have is from the suspect being inside the store just prior to the theft.

The suspect is described as a white male in his early 20’s wearing the baseball cap and black sleeveless shirt.  If you recognize him, please call us.  We’d love to get the bicycle back and we’d love to lock this guy up!!!

The stolen bicycle is described as a red cruiser.

As far as our 13 year old victim, we are making a bicycle available to him through our program with the Teen center using bicycles from our inventory of stored bicycles.

While we are at it…we had two bicycles reported stolen this morning (September 11^th) while locked to a car bike rack near Maple and Center Streets.

The bikes were taken in the night between 9:00 PM last night and 8:00 AM this morning.  Here is a picture of the bikes. 

They are also described as:

A forest green Soma Saga brand men's bicycle, 8 speeds, with steel fenders, a brown leather seat, brown handle bar grips, and "Gator Skin" brand tires, valued at $1,200.

A dark blue Globe Vienna brand women's bicycle, with steel fenders, a black seat, black handlebar grips, and a generator attached to the front tire that was used to power the large head lamp affixed to the goose neck of the bicycle. This bicycle was valued at about $800. 

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Santa Cruz Police Department Investigations Unit (831) 420-5820.  Anonymous tips can also be sent to the police department through our Tip Line (831) 420-5995, or from our Website; www.santacruzpolice.com .  Tipsters can also submit an anonymous tip via our smartphone app or from an SMS text.  Visit our Website for instructions.

 

Bike Theft Suspect Mug Shots

With the recent spike in bicycle thefts, we thought we would share some good news.  In the past week 5 individuals have been caught in the act of stealing bicycles.  Thanks to the unbeatable combination of good witnesses and good police work, these people have been arrested.  Here they are.  

Case 13S-00839

Thomas Wingo 24 yrs

and 

Jessica Vanbrug 31 yrs

Case 13S-00859

Patrick Collins 36 yrs

 

Case 13S-00915

Zachary Bernal 19 yrs

Case 13S-00917

Jeremy Ochoa 31 yrs

Good work community members.  Your quick actions, and dialing 9-1-1 with a good description put these people behind bars.