AUSTIN, Texas — A well-known Austin bike shop is offering a reward to catch the people behind six burglaries that have occurred over the last six months.
Investigators say thieves stole more than $100,000 worth of goods from Mellow Johnny’s, including a bike owned by Lance Armstrong.
An employee referred KVUE to Dave Amis, a private investigator and owner of StriderPI.com.
“There appears to be no stop, no end in sight,” Amis said.
Amis said he was hired in November after four break-ins starting in October.
Since then, there’ve been two more burglaries, one on March 7 and the other on March 9. Strider PI gave KVUE surveillance video from those two most recent break-ins.
“I’d say it’s two crews that don’t have anything to do with the store,” Amis said. “I can tell you that they’re smart, and they’ve come in the store different ways. They’ve also made a couple of mistakes. They’ve left some things behind, and that’s probably gonna end up being a problem for them.”
Amis said the burglars have stolen more than $100,000 worth of goods.
“Bikes, merchandise, sunglasses, shirts, things like that,” Amis said. “They also stole a Derringer [electric bike], which is owned by Lance Armstrong. That was kind of a big deal to them.”
Amis said his team recovered Armstrong’s bike, which was worth around $20,000, plus other items.
But, ultimately, it’s still up to the Austin Police Department (APD) to make the arrests.
“Every APD officer we’ve talked to has been supportive and helpful, and that’s great,” Amis said. “The challenge is there just aren’t enough cops right now, and that means there also aren’t enough detectives.”
To help hand over an air-tight case, Amis said his contractors put up more than 400 flyers in mid-May within a two-mile radius of the bike shop.
“The epicenter of bike thefts is actually near Mellow Johnny's,” Amis said. “It’s not because of the store, but there’s a couple other bike stores, and then there’s a significant homeless contingent that steal bikes and then actually market them. So, they’re selling them and buying them to each other.”
The flyers show surveillance photos and offer a $2,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the burglars, plus smaller amounts for any information to move the case forward.
People can submit tips anonymously to tipsforcash.com or call 214-612-7567.
A spokesperson for APD told KVUE they have not identified or found any suspects in the break-ins. They added the investigation remains open and ongoing.