PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — In a surprising turn of events, the owner of a stolen bike ended up befriending the young man trying to sell it online.
When Dan Wille reported his missing mountain bike was for sale online, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office contacted the seller. The seller was a teenager named Rafael Bodnar — who buys broken bikes, fixes them and then sells them as a hobby. Deputies say he was completely unaware that the bike was stolen.
The 16-year-old boy was reportedly happy to return the bike to Wille, despite losing the $500 he had paid for it. He dropped it off at the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Department and deputies then delivered it back to Wille.
Wille thanked the deputies and spoke very highly of Bodnar. He told deputies they had been texting each other and Wille even offered to help Rafael get a job at a bike shop in order to get more experience working as a mechanic. Wille says he is also thinking of beginning a fundraiser within the community to get the $500 back to Bodnar.
The suspect who is believed to have stolen the bike in the first place is well known to authorities, deputies say. He was identified as James Lee Adkins. Adkins was arrested in February after a bike-theft crime spree and remains under investigation.