Safety and Security and Hanover Police are looking for the owner of a metallic green Fuji mountain bicycle stolen by two minors Sept. 24.
Hanover Police Detective Sergeant Frank Moran said the two youths, who were found in possession of the bike and a Trek 820 earlier this week, recounted a story about a bike sale, featuring approximately 35 mountain bikes, which they said took place in the covered walkway connecting Alumni Gym and Berry Gym. Moran said the youths told police they won the bikes in a raffle held at the sale.
The story sounded "pretty shaky," Moran said, so Hanover Police tried to find information to prove the story false.
"With the help of the Dartmouth people, we eventually got so much information that the story had to be false," he said.
Safety and Security Crime Prevention Officer Rebel Roberts posted a BlitzMail bulletin asking for assistance in the police investigation.
The youths' families decided it would be best for the juveniles to admit they had stolen the bikes. But the owner of the Fuji bike has not yet been found and the Trek 820 has been claimed.
Roberts offered several suggestions for students to help prevent bicycle thefts on campus -- store the bike in a designated storage area or in a dormitory room (bike holders can be rented for a minimal fee), lock the bike to something other than itself and modify quick release tires or anything else that will make the "thief work harder to defeat the lock," she said.
Roberts said that although no specific pattern can be established, more bikes are stolen on weekends probably because of the influx of visitors on campus. For this reason Safety and Security recommends students take more preventative measures during Homecoming weekend, she added.
She also said students should register their bicycles with Safety and Security.
