CLASSIFIEDSADVERTISINGSPECIAL ISSUESSPORTSOBITUARIESNORTHERN JOBSTENDERS

ChateauNova

http://www.neas.ca/


NNSL Photo/Graphic


Canadian North

Home page text size buttonsbigger textsmall textText size Email this articleE-mail this page

Stolen bike sparks mother's outcry
Marian Tobin is urging parents to ask questions when their children bring home property that isn't theirs

Sara Wilson
Northern News Services
Published Saturday, July 14, 2012

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Matthew Szarkowicz, 12, saved up his birthday money for years to buy his $300 white and purple BMX bike, only to come out from the Range Lake School's Spring concert to find that someone had stolen it.

NNSL photo/graphic

Matthew Szarkowicz, 12, had his bike stolen during the Range Lake School's Spring Concert. - Sara Wilson/NNSL photo

"I was sad," Tobin said, looking at the ground.

While Szarkowicz was upset, his mother Marina Tobin was angry.

"He said he locked it, but even if he didn't – everyone that was at the school that night was from Range Lake and knew it was his bike," Tobin said.

Since the disappointing turn of events, Tobin has replaced the stolen bike for Szarkowicz – ordering a new BMX bike off the Internet from a company in Ireland.

"I know I've seen the bike around town, and it's been painted black, but there's no way to prove that it's his," Tobin said. "If your kid didn't leave home with a bike and all of a sudden he comes home with a bike - where did it come from? If (Tobin) had come home with a chocolate bar, I'd ask him, 'where did you get it from? Where did you get the money to buy it from. Who gave it to you?'"

It's a common problem, according to Tobin, who remembers a day when Yellowknifer residents could leave the door unlocked without fear of having their property stolen.

"I think it happens a lot in this town. I've heard other people say their kids' bikes have been stolen or their property had been taken from their trailer," she said.

Tobin didn't report the bike stolen to the RCMP because there was "no way to identify the second hand bike."

The RCMP and the Rotary Club of Yellowknife hosts an annual auction of bikes that have been collected, confiscated or turned in to RCMP. This past May, the club raised more than $5,000 from its bike auction.

According to the RCMP, from Jan. 1, 2011, to July 12, 2011, there were 43 reported stolen bikes in Yellowknife. To date this year there have been 21 reported stolen bikes in the city.

E-mailWe welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.