On 7/4/2011 the victim writes: I was searching through craigslist.org and found a listing for a bike that seemed like it was mine. It was the right year, model, size and even had the same issue with the front derailleur mine had. I figured what the hell and I texted the guy about it. I set up the meeting under the guise of buying it from him with the intention of confirming it was my stolen bike, and getting it back if it was. I was lucky because I had held onto the receipt for the original purchase. I brought both the receipt and a copy of the police report with me to the meeting. He showed up, I took a look at it, compared the serial number and told him it was my stolen bike. We called the cops, they came out and I explained the story to them. The cop compared the serial number on the bike to number on the receipt. He said, "it's your bike, so you get to take it" and that he would fill out a supplemental report declaring it was recovered. The cop explained that without the receipt, or something with the serial number on it, I would have been screwed. The guy selling the bike was actually really cool about it. I explained that I assumed he wasn't the guy who stole it and that it probably went through any number of people before he got it. I told him I was sorry to have brought him out here under false pretenses, but that I did so because I had no idea if he was the thief or just some unlucky guy who bought a stolen bike. He told me he was glad I got my bike back and that there were no hard feelings. So I got my bike back by shear luck. It was a 1 in million shot, but it paid off. Moral of the story, always keep your receipts.