Tag Archives: bicycle theft in Dickinson North Dakota

What Is Happening To The Stolen Bicycles In Dickinson, North Dakota

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Between 8 p.m. Sunday night and 4 a.m. Monday morning, someone cut the chain on my neighbor Matt’s bicycle in his front yard, and stole it.  This is the second bicycle that has been stolen from my neighbor Matt in this past year.

This most recent bicycle that was stolen from Matt was only worth about $100.  However the previous bicycle that was stolen from Matt was worth about $500 to $2,000 because it was a very good condition mountain bike that was a rare, collectible bicycle, that there are very few of in existence.

Six months ago I had my white color Mongoose mountain bicycle stolen where I live in downtown Dickinson.  This bicycle had a 1/2″ diameter steel Master Lock cable going through its frame and tires.  The thieves made an unsuccessful attempt, then came back one week later with a Dremel type cutting disk, and cut through the steel cable.   I say “thieves”, because there were two of them, the theft was recorded by my security camera.

The Mongoose mountain bicycle that was stolen from me was rare.  In the seven years that I owned it, I never ever saw another one like it where I bought it in Texas, or in Idaho, Utah, and North Dakota where I was living.  It had a white frame, with green/black accents, and green/black parts.

My white Mongoose bicycle, and especially Matt’s rare, collectible bicycle, could not be painted without destroying the value.  Even if my stolen bicycle, or Matt’s stolen bicycle were painted, we would still be able to recognize our bicycles.  The point is, whoever stole our bicycles, can’t ride them or try to sell them in Dickinson, and they know it.

Unpainted, at a glance I could recognize my stolen Mongoose bicycle 1/8 mile away on the street, driving by a yard, porch, or open garage.  Matt could recognize his stolen bicycle the same as I could identify mine.  Either one of us spotting our stolen bicycles would result in us stopping the rider, going up to where it was located, talking to whoever had it, and then calling the Police.

It became apparent that these stolen bicycles aren’t being sold or ridden in Dickinson.  I will explain again, that these are not kids doing this.  The thieves recorded by my security camera stealing my bicycle were not kids.  Kids don’t come out at 2:00 a.m. with large bolt cutters and Dremel tools, to cut chains and lock cables.

In any case, even if it were kids who were stealing our bicycles, they are not selling them or riding them in Dickinson.  These stolen bicycles are being stored somewhere, out of sight, in someplace like a backyard with concealment, a basement, garage, utility shed, house, trailer, or van.

There would be no point in stealing these bicycles if the thieves couldn’t sell them or ride them in Dickinson.  The thieves must be taking these stolen bicycles to some place like Bismarck.  Bismarck is the closest large city, 100 miles to the east.

The four hour, 200 mile round trip to Bismarck with stolen bicycles wouldn’t be worth the time and the cost of the trip, unless the thieves had more than several stolen bicycles to sell.  This means that the thieves have to be using either a van or an enclosed utility trailer to make the trip to Bismarck, or wherever they are traveling to sell these stolen bicycles.

Is has occurred to me, and other people have commented to me, that it should not be that difficult for the Police in Dickinson to find out who has a van load or trailer load full of stolen bicycles.  They just have to catch the bicycle thief one time, or a neighbor has to see this happening and report it, or a criminal in custody has to snitch, or an informant has to tell, and then its over for this bicycle theft ring of criminals.

It’s kind of like the Police in Dickinson are allowing this to happen, like this is harmless.  I wonder if the Police in Dickinson aren’t using some kind of logic like, “If we let these people steal small things, and commit small crimes, then they won’t have to commit big crimes like armed robbery.”

I wish that the Police in Dickinson would try to stop all crime, and not have any tolerance for any crime.  But, crime in Dickinson is not entirely the fault of the Police.  The Judges and the Department of Corrections keep letting all the criminals loose on parole/probation instead of jail/prison.

The Drug House In Dickinson, North Dakota

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Each of my previous four blog posts have been primarily about the attempted theft and successful theft of my property in downtown Dickinson, North Dakota where I live.  I would like to get off of this subject, but I can’t, because this shit keeps on happening, faster than I can even write about it.

Beginning on May 27, 2019 when I found my white color Mongoose Mountain Bicycle hanging from its bicycle cable-lock off the back of my truck parked where I live, my neighbors in the apartment building where I live, and my neighbors living in the houses in this area, they all told me that they believed that it was the people in the “Drug House” at the end of the street that were responsible for all of the crime in our neighborhood.

It was pointed out to me again and again by my neighbors, that the Dickinson Police are at the “Drug House” nearly every day.  If you watch what goes on down there, the Police are at this house looking for suspects, looking for stolen property, serving arrest warrants and arresting people, serving search warrants and arresting people for possession of illegal drugs and stolen property, serving eviction notices, evicting people, and responding to disputes.

Having observed all of the Police activity at the “Drug House” that goes on daily, people in our neighborhood have taken note of the individuals that come and go from the Drug House all day long by vehicle, by bicycle, and on foot, and the people who sit or loiter outside of the Drug House.

Everyone in our neighborhood is suspicious and concerned when they see the residents and visitors of the Drug House parked in their vehicle, bicycling, or walking in the neighborhood, because they are worried that they are planning on stealing something or breaking into a vehicle or home.  The parking, bicycling, and walking often appear to have no other purpose than spotting and planning things to steal.

Besides the successful theft of my white color Mongoose Mountain Bicycle, and the cutting through of the bicycle cable-lock on my red color Mongoose Mountain Bicycle, some of my neighbors have had a luggage rack stolen, a trailer hitch stolen, an expensive bicycle stolen, a baby stroller stolen, a car broken into, a house broken into, and most recently this past week a Honda Civic stolen.

Myself and all of my neighbors would like for this Drug House to be gone.  Burning it down, bulldozing it down, getting a community grant to buy it and destroy it, or having the Building Inspector or Fire Marshall declare it uninhabitable are options that have been considered.

I talked to the property manager of the apartment building where I live about the thefts that I have had, which appear to be caused by people walking up the street from the Drug House.  He looked up the owner of the Drug House, put the office phone on speaker, and called the owner of the Drug House while I was sitting there.  When the phone picked up, he said, “Hey John, I think that you have got a drug problem going on at the house that you own.”  John said without hesitation, “Oh I know that I do.”

John, the owner of the Drug House, was an elderly man in his late 60s or 70s.  He sounded tired and nearly worn out, almost exasperated.  He explained that he had three evictions currently going on at this house, and that none of these people would leave.  It appeared that it was never the elderly owner John’s intention to have rented to drug addicts and criminals.

Apparently, this Drug House was subdivided into small rental units, which are not very appealing, and they are very low rent, as low as $250 per month.  People with a criminal record, drug addiction, no high school diploma, no job skills, who can’t get a job or can’t keep a job, with very little income, they rent a unit in the Drug House because this is one of the cheapest places in Dickinson.

After the theft of my white color Mongoose Mountain Bicycle on June 6, I drove around Dickinson looking for this bicycle.  I stopped and talked to my neighbors, and I showed them photos of this stolen bicycle.  And, I stopped at the Drug House several times to show the tenants and loiterers photos of my stolen bicycle.

The female residents of the Drug House were very receptive in hearing about my stolen bicycle and looking at photos.  They would say how that was bad, they were sorry, and that they would keep an eye out for it.  The male residents of the Drug House would say get the fuck out of here with that shit, we didn’t steal your bicycle.

On the night of June 25, when every Dickinson Patrol Officer on duty at the time had to respond to a dispute involving residents of the Drug House, after this things changed for a couple of weeks.  The Police had to chase, taser, arrest, and take to jail an individual who was combative with them and non-compliant.  Removing this individual from the Drug House seemed to help quiet things down for a while.

Several residents of the Drug House, and several visitors to the Drug House were detained and questioned by the Police.  The visitors to the Drug House did not like being detained, identified, and questioned, and they quit going to the Drug House.  The women residents of the Drug House didn’t like this either and they were upset about it.

In the days following this incident, when the women residents of the Drug House were still upset about this, I talked to them about everything that had been going on recently.  Some of the residents of the Drug House were not renters, they were people who had no place to go, and they would not leave, this was the case for the person who got tased and arrested, his name was Steven.

Everything was quiet until the Honda Civic got stolen on Sunday morning July 14.  Possibly or probably the worst thing to come from all of this, was that I started talking to the drug addict women, which I will explain in my next blog post.

June 15, 2019 Attempted Bicycle Theft In Downtown Dickinson, North Dakota

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My previous three blog posts have been about the successful theft and attempted theft of my property in downtown Dickinson, North Dakota on May 27, June 6, June 15, and June 25 of 2019.

In this blog post, I just want to explain and show the surveillance video from June 15 at 2:31 a.m. where an adult male walks up to my red color Mongoose Mountain Bicycle parked in the bicycle rack where I live.  The 3/8″ steel bicycle cable-lock was found cut through on the morning of June 15, that is why I looked at the surveillance video from the previous night.

If you read my previous blog post, it describes the theft of my white color Mongoose Mountain Bicycle from the back of my vehicle parked where I live on June 6, where two adults cut through the 3/8″ steel bicycle cable-lock with a Dremel type tool.  The white color Mongoose Mountain Bicycle I cared about, the red color Mongoose Mountain Bicycle I bought at a City of Dickinson Municipal Surplus Auction two years ago for about $30.

The Police Officer who came to talk to me after I reported this attempted theft on June 15, was Officer Bates.  I later gave a copy of three surveillance videos showing the June 6 and June 15 incidents to Dickinson Police Officer Kinto, Officer Bates, and Sergeant Moser.

In this video, at the 02:31:00 time stamp, you will see an individual walk from the right side to the left side of the video screen.  If you look closely at the white Chrysler 300, you will see this individual turn to walk in front of this car, to get to the bicycle rack, and then crouch down.  Before viewing this surveillance video, click on the settings icon to select the highest video resolution 480p, and also expand this video to watch it on full-screen.

Why this individual didn’t take this red color Mongoose Mountain Bicycle at this time, I don’t know.  Maybe because the tires did not have enough air in them to ride it.  Maybe he got scared away by a barking dog at the house next door.

When I discussed the May 27, June 6, June 15, and June 25 theft or attempted thefts of my property in downtown Dickinson with neighbors in my apartment building, other people living in this neighborhood, and Dickinson Police Officers, everyone believed that the thieves were coming from the “Drug House” down the street.  When an arrest was made of an individual who had been photographing the property in my truck on June 25, following a 911 call about a dispute involving several people, this individual and several other persons involved were residents of the “Drug House”.

It is not that the Dickinson Police Patrol Officers do not care about crime in this neighborhood, they have to go to this “Drug House” on average about once per day.  There are drug investigations at this “Drug House” at least once per month, probably more often than that.  The suspects are taken to jail, and within a few days they are out of jail, right back to the “Drug House”.

June 6, 2019 Bicycle Theft Video Dickinson, North Dakota

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My previous two blog posts described the attempted theft and successful theft of my property in downtown Dickinson, North Dakota on May 27, June 6, June 15, and June 25 of 2019.

In this blog post, I just want to focus on the successful theft of my white color Mongoose Mountain Bicycle from my vehicle that occurred on June 6, 2019, and show the surveillance video of this theft.

There was an attempted theft of this white color Mongoose Mountain Bicycle on May 27, where this bicycle was left hanging from the back of my vehicle by its bicycle cable-lock.  Dickinson Police Officer Langler who responded to my reporting this attempted theft to the Dickinson Police Dispatch, he suggested that I buy a trail camera or a security camera, so I bought a security camera and installed it that same day.

On June 6, 2019 at approximately 2:19:00 a.m., the security camera recorded two adults riding up to my vehicle on black BMX bicycles.  On this video, look at the white truck parked on the far side of the street.  At approximately 2:21:00 a.m., the security video shows one of the thieves riding away on my white color Mongoose Mountain Bicycle, while he holds onto the handle bars of the small black BMX bicycle that he rode up on.

When watching this video, click on the settings icon to select the highest video resolution which will probably be 480p, then click on the full screen view icon.  Look at the surveillance video time stamp, and start viewing at 02:19:00 a.m.

I want to explain several things that I have not already covered in my previous two blog posts.  This white color Mongoose Mountain Bicycle, I bought it for $225 in Uvalde, Texas while I was working in the oil field of southwest Texas, near Carrizo Springs in 2012.  On the weekends I rode this bicycle through the sparsely populated, rural areas along the Nueces River.  I kept this bicycle in very good condition for the past seven years, it has more sentimental value and memories associated with it, than cash value.

You have got to realize, that two grown adults made one attempt to steal this bicycle on May 27, then they made plans to come back with a Dremel tool on June 6 at 2:20 a.m. in the morning, to crouch down and take two minutes to cut through a 3/8″ steel bicycle cable-lock out on the street, and then ride down the street holding onto another bicycle, to obtain something that they could sell for only $80 to $100.  Do any grown adults do anything as stupid as this, to split $80 to $100 between them, and risk going to jail, if they are not Methamphetamine addicts?

I was upset at having this bicycle stolen, because it means something to me, not because it is worth a lot of money.  But more importantly, if two adults are going to come out at night in my neighborhood with a Dremel tool, looking to steal things worth as little as $80, is anything inside or outside my vehicle, or anyone else’s vehicle safe?

It was pointed out to me by several different Dickinson Police Officers, neighbors living in my apartment building, and neighbors living in homes in this neighborhood, that there is a “Drug House” down the street from me.  On average, the Dickinson Police have to go to this “Drug House” about once a day.

Neighbors pointed out to me the vehicles that have been broken into, the other property that has been stolen like bicycles, luggage racks, trailer hitches, and a baby stroller, and following tracks in the snow back to the “Drug House” down the street.  Some of this was explained in my previous blog post.

Something else that needs to be realized, is that these stolen items like an $80 bicycle or an $80 luggage rack, it is unlikely that someone would drive one or two of these items at a time immediately to Bismarck or Rapid City to try to sell them, because it wouldn’t be worth the trip time-wise or the cost of fuel.  There has got to be some shed or garage in downtown Dickinson, that is full of stolen bicycles, car luggage racks, trailer hitches and everything else that has been stolen downtown in the past month or two.

Lastly, besides evidence that seems to point to the people in the “Drug House” down the street being involved in the attempted theft and successful theft of my property downtown where I live, in the original HD high resolution video where I can zoom-in, the person riding away on my Mongoose Mountain Bicycle reminded me of someone who works at a business in downtown Dickinson.

The person who was riding away on my Mongoose Bicycle, who reminded me of a person who works at a business downtown, I looked him up on the internet to learn his last name, let’s say that his last name is “Harter”, an unusual name that I have never really come across anyone having this last name before.  (“Harter” is not his actual last name, I don’t want to ruin the Police investigation, however I want people to be able to figure this out.)

When I went to the Dickinson Police Station on June 26 following the arrest of the person from the “Drug House” who was using his phone to photograph the property in my truck downtown where I live, there was another individual from the “Drug House” at the Police Station, and just then the “Harter” guy who looks like the person who stole my bicycle shows up at the Police Station too.

Then, I find out that the “Drug House” resident who is always walking up and down the streets during the day spotting things to steal when it gets dark, her last name is “Harter”.

Also, for about eight years of my life as a kid and as a teenager, I rode my bicycle for an average of about four hours every day.  It is very hard to ride a bicycle, and hold onto a second bicycle by the handle bars, pulling it along with you, because the second bicycle always wants to steer into you or away from you, it is very hard to do.  It is hard to ride down from a curb on a bicycle with only one hand on the handle bars, even much more so while holding onto a second bicycle.  There are only a few people in Dickinson who have this much experience riding bicycles, to ride away holding a second BMX bicycle by the handle bars, and drop down from a curb one-handed, like shown in the surveillance video.

Why I Haven’t Written About Dickinson, North Dakota For A Month

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I have not written about Dickinson, North Dakota for a month.  This is the longest that I have gone in the past five years without writing anything.  This has been one of the worst months of my life.  Most of my problems involved being sick, my Siamese cat, going back to Idaho to work on my house, and thefts where I live in downtown Dickinson.

Everything that went wrong for me, was not nearly as important or consequential as the thefts of my property in downtown Dickinson, North Dakota.  The last blog post that I wrote on May 27 titled “Early Morning Thefts In Downtown Dickinson, North Dakota”, turned out to be just the beginning.

On the morning of May 27, I found my white color Mongoose mountain bicycle hanging from it’s bicycle cable lock, with the front wheel undone, hanging off the back of my truck.  I took Dickinson Police Officer Langler’s advice when he came to take a report, to purchase a security camera.

On the morning of June 6, I found that my white color Mongoose mountain bicycle was gone.  The surveillance video showed two adults ride up on black BMX bicylces, cut through the bicycle cable lock, and ride off on my bicycle at 2:21 a.m.  Dickinson Police Officer Kinto took a report on this theft.

On the morning of June 15, a neighbor found the bicycle cable lock cut through on my older red color Mongoose mountain bicycle parked in the bicycle rack.  The surveillance video showed an adult walk up to this bicycle and crouch down beside it at 2:31 a.m.  Dickinson Police Officer Bates took a report on this attempted theft where the bicycle cable lock was cut through.

On the evening of June 25 at 7:20 p.m., my neighbors observed an adult male taking pictures of what was in the back of my truck using his phone, apparently the set of four truck tires.  The Dickinson Police were not very helpful at first when I was trying to explain this to them, they were especially not helpful when they later tasered this individual 100 feet from my truck when he was being combative and non-compliant with them, in regards to a dispute.

I tried to explain about the attempted theft and successful theft of my property on May 27, June 6, June 15, and at 7:20 p.m. this evening by this individual now in their custody in the back of their patrol vehicle to several Dickinson Police Officers standing there, but they didn’t want to hear about it, except for Officer Langler, who unfortunately had to leave on another call.  I couldn’t believe it, I thought that I would have a very difficult time catching this person, and now that the Police had him in custody in their patrol vehicle, they didn’t want to hear about it.

The following morning, June 26, I was able to give a written statement and three surveillance videos to Dickinson Police Sergeant Moser who was in charge of the day shift, in the hope that the Dickinson Police Department could use all of this information with the dates, times, and videos to make some progress in theft investigations in Dickinson.

Dickinson Police Officers Langler, Kinto, Bates, and Moser were professional and they appeared to have a genuine interest in stopping the thefts in downtown Dickinson.  But something is wrong beyond these specific instances of theft and attempted theft where I live in downtown Dickinson, something is wrong with the Mayor Scott Decker, the Police Chief Dusty Dassinger, the Judges, the City of Dickinson Commissioners, the long-time local residents, and the out of state workers in Dickinson.

I have lived in small towns, college towns, oil field towns, medium-sized towns, and big cities like Tampa, Phoenix, and Fort Worth.  Dickinson has by far the worst theft and drug crime, and it only has a population of 25,000 people.

What I believe is the deliberate under-reporting of crime in Dickinson, is doing way more harm than good.  If crime is really bad and out of control, let the people know, let the Mayor know, let the City Commissioners know, so that additional officers or detectives can be hired, or even ask for assistance from the State Police.

There seems to be some kind of unwritten understanding between Police Chief Dusty Dassinger, the Judges, and the thieves and drug addicts in Dickinson, that the theft of property is not that bad, drug activity is not that bad, as long as you don’t do anything violent, you’re O.K.

The behind the scenes attitude of Mayor Scott Decker, Police Chief Dusty Dassinger, the City of Dickinson Commissioners, and the Judges, that the city is just going to have to live with theft and drug crime, there isn’t much that you can do about it, let’s try to minimize the reporting of crime in Dickinson, we aren’t going to hire more Police Officers, let’s just try to make it through these post oil boom years, and all of this will die off, ……..this attitude of allowing it, permitting it, and ignoring it is making Dickinson have the worst crime of anywhere I have ever lived in my life.