The Bike Thief Among Us

[tkbike]

Sitting in an airport in Ft Lauderdale this past weekend I read a story in Mountain Bike magazine titled 'The Bike Thief Among Us'. In the story it mentioned that a bike thief in Texas named James Clayton would list stolen items in 'less frequented websites like serotta.com'. Just wondering if anyone has read the story and if it was true?

[thegunner]

Sitting in an airport in Ft Lauderdale this past weekend I read a story in Mountain Bike magazine titled 'The Bike Thief Among Us'. In the story it mentioned that a bike thief in Texas named James Clayton would list stolen items in 'less frequented websites like serotta.com'. Just wondering if anyone has read the story and if it was true?

no but that's an insult!

[firerescuefin]

Do you really think that scammers and petty thieves waste their time convincing people on one message board that they're legit?

Or do you think that they'd just post to a bunch of places and hope for some responses?


Nooneline, it's all a conspiracy....right :cool:

[xjoex]

I read the article too ( free subscription with IMBA membership) and it was an interesting read. My ears perked up when I saw the serotta.com nod.

-Joe

[texbike]

Sitting in an airport in Ft Lauderdale this past weekend I read a story in Mountain Bike magazine titled 'The Bike Thief Among Us'. In the story it mentioned that a bike thief in Texas named James Clayton would list stolen items in 'less frequented websites like serotta.com'. Just wondering if anyone has read the story and if it was true?

It is definitely true. The guy was a Cat 4 racer (if I remember correctly) here in Austin and was a real scam artist. He stole from his "friends" and resold the parts in numerous places (including a couple of posts here on the Serotta forum). He was finally nailed when someone stumbled across one of his ads for equipment that closely matched some stolen goods.

Here's a link to the story: www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid:764582 .

Texbike

[gdw]

This came up last year:
http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=56159

[tch]

no but that's an insult! (that serotta.com is "less frequented)
$10!
As soon as I read that line in Bicycling, I knew someone was going to get their knickers in a twist! I bet my wife it'd come up.
Thanks all.

tch

[MattTuck]

what a scum bag.

As much as I like the idea of the classifieds, and the "secondary market" that flourishes here (and I say "idea" because I've never and probably will never buy any bike stuff second hand through an online site), I think that a minimum post count or some other system to weed out people who aren't in "the community".

Boy, do I sound elitist or what ;)


On my way 1,000 posts!!

[thegunner]

$10!
As soon as I read that line in Bicycling, I knew someone was going to get their knickers in a twist! I bet my wife it'd come up.
Thanks all.

tch

glad to help!

[MattTuck]

$10!
As soon as I read that line in Bicycling, I knew someone was going to get their knickers in a twist! I bet my wife it'd come up.
Thanks all.

tch

You should put that money toward buying the forum a round. We can each have .001 pints.

[Wilkinson4]

Reminds me of James Hogue, a gifted runner and scam artist.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1900621_1900618_1900619,00.html

mIKE

[hairylegs]

this is so crazy! my favorite was the triathlon one....swim fast and knab the best bike you can find! what a bizarre story....

[kgreene10]

That photo of him haunts my dreams...and makes me want to drink a Shiner.

[gearguywb]

some friend....

[AngryScientist]

i guess in any group there is bound to be a bad apple or two. its good to keep this in mind though, and realize that we're not really "safe" anywhere.

[rugbysecondrow]

what a scum bag.

As much as I like the idea of the classifieds, and the "secondary market" that flourishes here (and I say "idea" because I've never and probably will never buy any bike stuff second hand through an online site), I think that a minimum post count or some other system to weed out people who aren't in "the community".

Boy, do I sound elitist or what ;)


On my way 1,000 posts!!

No, not elite but just a little niave (and I say this with no offense intended). The guy was a thief but more so he was a preditor. He was a member of the "community", stealing from other riders, employors and his friends. He spent time cultivating relationships, building trust, being welcomed into people homes and lives, and then he would rob them blind. If he put this much effort into developing these in-person relationships, there is nothing a post count can do. Forum interaction can be so 1 dimensional, a preditor like this guy would con all of us too. He moved many of his stolen goods through craigslist, so he sold things not only online and inperson. When you buy a crankset off of Craigslist, the truth is that if it passes the smell test and the price is right, that is all you care about. This guy would have con'd you, me and 95% of the people here. Sad, but just the way it is.



"A guy named James Clayton who has lived in Austin for a little over a year has been befriending cyclists, finding out where they live, what they have, and when they won't be home. He breaks into homes and steals bikes, frames, and parts. If you know this guy DO NOT share personal information, as far as we know he only steals from close friends of his."

----------------------------------

"I let him work, really just volunteer, around the shop. He helped people out all the time. ... People would come in, and he'd fix their flats, whatever – although he was so annoying to my other employees that I couldn't have hired him." The owner later discovered that bike parts as well as a frame worth $4,000 had gone missing from the store, and he believes Clayton heisted them."

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"You don't have burglars who are home-entertainment enthusiasts who then befriend electronic-gadget enthusiasts at local events, gain their trust, and then go steal their jumbo flat screens," he said. "These are bikes ... personal items you ride and mold to, and the bicycling community is close-knit – so any kind of con like this is going to hit home hard."

----------------------------------

"More intimately, many people trusted Clayton and opened their lives to him. Har?grove still wonders how Clayton could have enjoyed his home at Thanksgiving dinner, after apparently stealing Hargrove's bikes a few months earlier. Christopher recalls that he also included Clayton in his family's celebration of Thanksgiving. "He took two of my bicycles," Christopher said, apparently with a cover story that his bike was also gone. "I was gone for the weekend at my parents' ranch, and I got a call from James. He said, 'I hope you moved our bikes, because if you didn't, they've been nabbed.'"

[Pete Serotta]

Ben Serotta wanted to do anything we could to assist is gathering evidence,

(Actually a forumite here did buy a few.).

I did get to talk to the officer and also do a couple searches of our DB of classified


PETE

[texbike]

That photo of him haunts my dreams...and makes me want to drink a Shiner.

LOL! :)

Texbike

[texbike]

This is an interesting twist:

http://austinontwowheels.org/2011/12/29/the-saga-of-james-clayton-comes-to-an-end/ .

Texbike

[bloody sunday]

This is an interesting twist:

http://austinontwowheels.org/2011/12/29/the-saga-of-james-clayton-comes-to-an-end/ .

Texbike
dang, may be another con?

[zmudshark]

Anyone seen my white 54 cm Primato?

I hate thieves. I flipped bikes for a few years to support my habit, but never bought a bike that I remotely thought could have been stolen.

Unfortunately, the police don't seem to care about theft these days. Tough times.

[zmudshark]

This is an interesting twist:

http://austinontwowheels.org/2011/12/29/the-saga-of-james-clayton-comes-to-an-end/ .

Texbike

The RIP at the end was a bit much. I can think of other things besides 'resting in peace'. Probably better not said out loud.

[Seramount]

RIP?

the guy was a despicable thief stealing from people who regarded him as a friend. that's worse than just jacking someone's bike at random.

some people really strain to be PC...

[sjpitts]

Anyone seen my white 54 cm Primato?

I hate thieves. I flipped bikes for a few years to support my habit, but never bought a bike that I remotely thought could have been stolen.

Unfortunately, the police don't seem to care about theft these days. Tough times.

The scary part is that he was just released from prison for bike thievery but was still able to get a new job at a Phx bike shop. Talk about putting the fox back in charge of the hens . . . . .

[zmudshark]

Which shop did he work at in PHX? I'd like to ask them if they ever saw my stolen De Rosa Primato.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-FssnX61vAMo/TOQRpG84plI/AAAAAAAAF1o/OZ-XS5nU7OU/s800/P1000447.JPG

[Louis]

Which shop did he work at in PHX? I'd like to ask them if they ever saw my stolen De Rosa Primato.

ZM, what saddle-bag is (was - sorry about the loss) that? (I assume there's a tubular inside, correct?)

[zmudshark]

ZM, what saddle-bag is (was - sorry about the loss) that? (I assume there's a tubular inside, correct?)Arundel Tubi bag. Great bags, if you can find them in stock anywhere.

[thenewguy11]

This guide of stuff always makes me so nervous. I swear, I breathe a little easier every time I open the garage and see my bikes are still where I left them.

[ultraman6970]

Looks like the guy was released a few months ago, and now he is DEAD????

http://atxbs.com/?q=taxonomy/term/564


http://austinontwowheels.org/2011/12/29/the-saga-of-james-clayton-comes-to-an-end/

[sjpitts]

Which shop did he work at in PHX? I'd like to ask them if they ever saw my stolen De Rosa Primato.



All I know was in the referenced articles. Apparently, he started in PHX, went to Austin (in late 2006), was arrested and did time there, was extradited to Arizona, and then released (9/28/2011).

They don't say what shop he worked at.

But if he wasn't released until 9/28/2011 that would be too late to be your DeRosa thief.

[thwart]

Re: Mr. Carlton... one word comes to mind...

Karma.

[fogrider]

sounds like there was something wrong with him in the head...we're just lucky he wasn't a psycho killer.

there has been times when I see stuff on cl and think that it's stolen. I like to at least talk to the seller and find out why their selling and what kind of connection they have with what their selling. not to say thats a way to tell for sure.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . that he could just move to Phoenix and new employer would not check out anything about him. He's got such an obvious trail.

BBD