Man arrested after allegedly breaking into Provo police evidence storage area, taking his own bicycle

Provo police will make adjustments to security at the station after a man allegedly broke into an outdoor evidence storage space undetected last month and took his own bicycle.

This incident is the first of its kind in Provo, according to Sgt. Nisha King, and officers plan to implement additional measures to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Previous to Dec. 18, police had seized the bicycle from a person who was riding it at the time of his arrest in an unrelated incident. Typically, when Provo officers arrest someone with a bicycle, King said, they book it into a fenced-in evidence storage area and register it under the name of the person from whom it was seized.

The bike’s 37-year-old owner came into the station Dec. 18 with an associate to retrieve the bike, King said, but since it hadn’t been reported stolen, an administrator had to verify the man’s ownership.

While at the station, the men saw where the bicycle was being stored, but left by the time police finished verifying the man’s claim to the bike, she said.

Later that night, the men returned to the station and took the bicycle from evidence, King said. The area where the bike was being stored is an outdoor section specifically designated for bicycles. It is surrounded by a locked fence that stands about 12- to 15-feet high. At the time of the break-in, there were not security cameras in the area, King said.

“Obviously at this point, we’ll make adjustments to the area,” King said Friday.

Officers had noticed that the bike was missing but did not know where it had been taken, King said. No other bicycles stored in the area appeared to have been disturbed.

Recently, the person from whom the bike was originally seized was arrested again, King said, and told officers he’d heard the men bragging about pulling off “the crime of the century” by breaking into the police department and taking the bike. He said the bike was at the owner’s grandmother’s house.

Police contacted the bicycle’s owner at his home, and he told them he didn’t know where the bicycle was, according to King. Officers found the bike in his grandmother’s backyard.

The man was booked into the Utah County jail Wednesday, where he is being held on suspicion of burglary. Charges are being screened by the county attorney’s office, King said, but none had been filed against the man as of early Friday afternoon.

The man has a criminal history of mostly theft-related offenses.