Hinkamp was working as a volunteer at the 2004 Burning Man Festival, 120 miles north of Reno, Nev., on Sept. 4 when he was attacked late at night by a man dressed as a clown. The clown stole Hinkamp's bike and left him with a radial skull fracture, plus two plates and 13 screws in his arm.

“I was riding my bike out on the Black Rock Desert well away from the crowds when someone came out of the dark and knocked me off my bike, breaking my arm,” Hinkamp said. “While I struggled to get my composure, he punched me in the face. When I tried to stop him from getting away, he kicked me several times. When I called for help, he tried to confuse onlookers by yelling 'No, he's taking MY bike.' ''

The perpetrator rode off on the bike - worth about $50 - and later ditched it, Hinkamp said.

After two surgeries, Hinkamp has recovered most of the range of motion in his left arm.

A healing balm for Hinkamp came Aug. 16 when his assailant, Johnny Goodman, confessed, apologized and was sentenced to three years probation and ordered to pay $21,000 in restitution at the Pershing County District Courthouse in Nevada.

Goodman, a member of a renegade group called Anarchoclowns, has been banned from Burning Man and ordered to abstain from controlled substances and alcohol during his probationary period. Jim Graham of Felton, Calif., is largely credited with tracking down the violent clown, using what little information was available about the attacker to launch an elaborate Internet search. Graham, a former cops-and-courts newspaper reporter and seven-year Burning Man veteran, said he got some leads, put pressure on the suspect and finally received an anonymous e-mail confession from the clown. Next, a friend with computer expertise traced the e-mail route to a hospital in Seattle, where Goodman was a nursing student.