CASPER, Wyo. — A Casper man on bond in a burglary case is now accused of stealing a Cannondale bicycle and later fleeing from police.
The bike was valued at $1,300 ($2,000 new), according to the Casper Police Department report.
Beau King, 33, was charged Monday with felony theft and interference with a peace officer, a misdemeanor.
King is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
The theft was reported by a woman who said the bike had been locked to the back of her motor home, which she’d left at a west Casper shop overnight for service. She was from out of town.
An employee found the cut bike lock and a hacksaw nearby. The items were collected for potential biological evidence.
Surveillance footage showed only a male with a backpack approaching the bike around 11:19 p.m. on June 6, but little else was discernible, the report said.
The bike had been equipped with an Apple Airtag tracking device, but it was later recovered discarded in the bed of a pickup truck.
On June 10, an officer on patrol in a west Casper neighborhood near 15th and Willow streets noted a man on a bike entering the road from an alley without stopping. The officer followed and said the man again did not stop while crossing the street.
After activating lights, the officer said the suspect jumped off the bike and ran into an alley between Cherry and Cottonwood streets. The suspect ran through a yard to a residence, the officer said.
Officers gained consent to enter the home and located the suspect, King, in the basement. He was arrested without further incident. The bike he’d jumped off was found to be the stolen Cannondale.
King reportedly told police a friend named “Mike” had given him permission the day before to borrow the bike. He could not provide a last name, but said that “Mike” had left the bike for him to pick up against his house.
King identified the address, which officers learned was the residence of Michael Poulos, who had been in county jail since May 13. In an unrelated case, Poulos pleaded guilty to stealing a bike on June 8, 2022.
King then said that he and “Mike” in fact had a standing agreement that King could ride his bicycles, the affidavit said.
Officers went to the residence and contacted another man who lived there. He told police he’d never seen the Cannondale bike, and “had never heard of people just being allowed to ride bicycles from the address with an unspoken agreement.”
Bond was set at $5,000 for King on Monday. He also had an active bench warrant for failure to cooperate with his pre-sentence investigation after pleading guilty to auto burglary, according to court records.
