Local Girl Uses Internet, Gets Stolen Bike Back in Voice Writer-Assisted Sting

In proof that good things happen to industrious, Internet-using people, and that sometimes cops, too, are a force to be reckoned with (in a good way), here’s our favorite story of the day thus far. Brooklyn novelist Jami Attenberg went to the Arcade Fire/Spoon show last night, biking to the Marcy J/M/Z station and locking her transport there before subwaying to Madison Square Garden. Alas, when she got back later in the evening, the bike was gone.

The next morning, she got on Craigslist to see if she could find a cheap replacement, and lo and behold, she uncovered what seemed to be her very own bike, with the scratches she remembered and everything. Here’s the ad; click to enlarge.

In a perfect storm of investigatory Internet research (think Girl With the Dragon Tattoo-esque backgrounding on the dude selling it) spurred by her friend Maura Johnston (who writes for the Voice and awesomely knows exactly how to track down a criminal’s wife’s MySpace page) and getting the cops involved, Attenberg ended up in a sting operation in which she acted as decoy/bike purchaser while the cops stood by and then, when the thief or fence-for-thief brought her her bike, nabbed him. All by 11:30 a.m.

The cops were impressed, according to Attenberg’s blog: One said, “You did all the hard work. All that Internet research, finding it on Craigslist.” Another said, “You could join the force.”

And then I rode off on my bike, and I haven’t been able to stop laughing and smiling for the last hour. This is one of the best days of my life, no joke.

Let this be a lesson to the bike-stealers, and you know who you are. We will get you. And, Happy Friday!