Ownership hazy when it comes to 'hot' property

Unless you're a second-story man or a masochist, you're going to hear this story and go "oooh."

About a month ago, Brian Verhaaren opened his garage door in Sugar House and found the place all cleaned out.

Not cleaned out as in swept and spotless, cleaned out as in grand larceny.

Someone had carted off Brian's weed whacker, his hedge trimmer, his lawn mower and, not incidentally, his carbon-frame 20-speed Kestrel road bicycle.

Brian was beside himself. He could live without the yard gear — he'd proven that more than once — but his bike!

He called the police, who came to his house and filed a crime report and commiserated with Brian because the truth was, they told him, he'd probably never see his bike again. They suggested he check the pawnshops and eBay, however, because you never know.

Brian did just that and to his great surprise about a month later he found his distinctive green bike on eBay.

"It was posted by a seller who went by 'freeridecycles,"' says Brian. "Ironic name, isn't it?"

But it would get a whole lot more ironic than that.

Through a telephone number on the Web site, Brian tracked the bike's location to a Salt Lake suburb and, not wanting to go all Dog the Bounty Hunter on anyone, gave the address to police, who confirmed that Brian's carbon-frame 20-speed Kestrel road bike was safe and sound in a location no more than 10 miles from the garage it had been lifted from.

That was the good news.

The bad news was that the police couldn't give it back to Brian — because they told him it was no longer his.

The bike had had a busy month.

First it made its way to a Salt Lake Valley pawnshop, taken there by the person who lifted it from Brian's garage. Then the pawnshop sold it to the person who listed it on eBay and that person sold it to the person who now had actual possession.

In the eyes of Utah law, a police detective told Brian, that person was now the rightful owner of his bike. This was because the pawnshop had turned in the serial number of the bike to a state-run database, as required by law, and had then waited a mandatory 10 days to be alerted if it was reported stolen, also required by law, before selling it to the eBay lister, who, in exchange for his purchase price, bought good title.

"As you can imagine," says Brian, "I was dumbfounded."

But it was apparently true, and the reason could be traced back to the Utah Legislature.

In last year's session, Rebecca Lockhart, R-Provo, successfully sponsored a bill that both mandated the database clearinghouse and reduced the waiting period window for pawnshops from 30 days to 10 days.

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