It’s rare that something stolen will ever be returned, but especially by a stranger. With the power of today’s social media and the strength of the Auburn Family, one student’s stolen bike could be returned to him.
“I had to run into Lowder one day, and I left my bike right outside,” said Tj Nguyen, graduate student in mechanical engineering. “I came back a few minutes later and my bike was gone.”
Nguyen said he bought the bike a few weeks before from Samuel Bartlett, junior in computer science, on the Facebook group Free and for sale.
“Basically, Tj contacted me on Facebook and bought the bike,” Bartlett said. “And then a few weeks later, I saw on Facebook again that it had been stolen.”
When Bartlett heard the news of the stolen bike, he posted a status telling everyone to look out for it, as well as posting fliers in the cycling group Auburn Flyers.
A few weeks later, when Nguyen said he was starting to lose hope, Raleigh Clark, an employee at a downtown sandwich shop, thought he saw a stranger with the missing bike ride by him while at work.
“I don’t actually know Tj,” Clark said. “But I remembered the picture Sam posted in the GroupMe of the missing bike.”
When Clark saw someone who clearly wasn’t Nguyen walking down the street with the bike, he decided to call Bartlett.
“Raleigh called me asking if the bike was still missing,” Bartlett said. “The ironic thing was that when he called I was actually at a ceremony listening to a speech on why you should love Auburn.”
Bartlett then Facebook messaged Nguyen saying a friend downtown found his bike and was following the perpetrator.
Nguyen said he and a few of his friends quickly jumped in the car and drove downtown.
“As soon as I confirmed from Sam that it was the stolen bike, I knew I had two options,” Clark said. “I could either stand there and watch him or I could try to do something.”
Clark tried calling the police first, but was told that there was nothing law enforcement could do unless the owner of the bike called.
“At this point, I felt like it was my responsibility to do something,” Clark said.
Clark followed the bike thief to Toomer’s Corner and then watched him walk into Mountain High looking for bike accessories. When the man came back out and got on the bike again, Clark approached him.
“I walked up to him and said, ‘This is not your bike and I know it,’” Clark said. “I showed him a picture of the bike and told him I called my friend and the police.”
Clark said the thief seemed baffled at first that he was willing to approach him and began to make up a story about how he had recently purchased the bike.
“Then I said, ‘You can hand that over to me or you can wait for the cops to show up,’” Clark said. “He looked pretty happy to give it to me after that.”
Nguyen was walking toward Toomer’s when he turned the corner and saw Clark standing with his bike.
“I jumped out of my car to look for the perpetrator and instead find this guy in his uniform holding my bike,” Nguyen said.
Nguyen’s bike was returned to him through random acts of kindness from strangers in the Auburn community. He said he is determined to repay the act of kindness to Clark.
“I plan on showing up at his work one day, ordering a sandwich, and then leaving a generous tip,” Nguyen said.
Bartlett said he believes this is also a prime example of the Auburn Family.
“It really proves a point that all of Auburn is always looking out for each other,” Bartlett said. “I’m happy I got to be apart of that and contribute.”
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