Trove of stolen bikes recovered in Santa Rosa

Anyone who’s had a bicycle stolen recently may be in luck, the Santa Rosa Police Department said it recovered 16 rides from a bike thief.

Detectives posted photos of the bicycles they recovered from a storage shed in southwest Santa Rosa, and encouraged victims of recent thefts to check them out at www.facebook.com/SantaRosaPoliceDepartment.

The case started late last month when a man in his 20s had his new red $1,000 Fuji road bike stolen from his home on Wiljan Court in the city’s southwest area.

He went hunting for it on Craigslist and sure enough came across the same bike, selling for a hefty discount of $450.

He called the cops, and officers, posing as interested buyers, met the seller at the nearby storage shed, where he showed them the bike for sale.

After he gave officers a false name, they determined he was Eric Edward Taylor, 60, a local transient with an outstanding warrant for drug sales, and who had methamphetamine and heroin in his possession, police said.

Serial numbers revealed the bicycle to be owned by the Wiljan Court resident.

A search of the shed revealed at least 50 bicycles, many of them stripped, and hundreds of parts. Just 16 were recoverable, police said.

Taylor was booked into county jail on charges that included possession of stolen property, drug possession, giving a false identification and the outstanding warrant, police said.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at ?707-521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @srcitybeat.