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High Country Crime: Lance Armstrong’s old bike stolen from Pitkin County sheriff’s porch

This bike from Lance Armstrong was stolen from the front porch of Pitkin County Sheriff Joe DiSalvo's Aspen home.
Special to the Daily |

A valuable bicycle with some serious pedigree was stolen earlier this month from the front porch of Pitkin County Sheriff Joe DiSalvo’s Aspen home, the sheriff said Wednesday.

“I’m bummed,” DiSalvo said. “So we decided to do a Facebook campaign (to try to get it back) because it’s so unique and valuable.”

The bright-yellow Trek road bike belonged to DiSalvo’s wife, Marcy, who expressed an interest in cycling a couple of years ago, he said. So DiSalvo asked his friend and part-time Aspen resident Lance Armstrong if he might be able to help.



“Lance said, ‘Let me get you a bike,’” DiSalvo said. “We’ve been friends for a long time.”

Armstrong chose a bike he’d received for the 2005 Tour of Hope ride from San Diego to Washington, D.C., and refurbished it for Marcy DiSalvo, the sheriff said. The Tour of Hope raises money for cancer research.



“Joe and Lance did it for me as a surprise,” Marcy DiSalvo said Wednesday. “I was so excited.”

Marcy DiSalvo said she received the bike two years ago, but because of shoulder surgery and other reasons, she hasn’t taken it out riding much yet. However, earlier this month she felt the urge to ride up to the Maroon Bells, took it for a ride and realized it needed some routine maintenance.

A bike mechanic tuned it up for her, brought it back to the DiSalvo home and left it on the porch Aug. 18. Marcy DiSalvo said she didn’t notice it had been returned and later when she went to look for it, realized it must have been stolen, probably that Friday night, from the front porch.

The thief would have had to walk through the front yard gate and up on to the porch to steal the bike, she said. And the person didn’t steal anything else.

“Joe’s crappy mountain bike was still there,” Marcy DiSalvo said.

Joe DiSalvo said he thinks it will be difficult for whomever stole it to get rid of it because it’s so distinctive, though it may be worth somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000. Still, he said he will probe no further if the thief has a change of heart.

“You drop it off some place, I’ll come pick it up, no questions asked,” Joe DiSalvo said Wednesday.

Anyone who’s seen the bike can call Joe DiSalvo at the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office at 910-920-5300 or the Aspen Police Department at 970-920-5400.

—The Aspen Times staff report

Silt officer charged with insurance fraud and theft reported repeated burglaries

Silt police Cpl. Michael Taylor reported that his home was burglarized twice and his wife’s car also was broken into, netting more than $60,000 in insurance payments, the state indictment charging him with fraud, theft and forgery alleges.

Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman has charged 49-year-old Taylor with three counts of insurance fraud, two of theft between $1,000 and $20,000, one of theft between $5,000 and $20,000 and three of forgery. Coffman’s office provided the indictment to the Glenwood Springs Post Independent on Monday, Aug. 28. The case is filed in Garfield County.

The charges stem from incidents that began in June 2010, when Taylor first reported that his New Castle home had been burglarized. He reported to New Castle police and his insurance company that a Sentry brand safe, a Rolex watch, a blender and his passport had been stolen.

He was paid more than $4,000 for the Rolex and $100 for the passport, say investigators. But investigators found that he later turned that passport in when he went to get a new one. And the Silt corporal later admitted to investigators that the Rolex was a knockoff for which he’d paid only $2,000, according to the indictment.

Then in May 2012, he again reported to New Castle police that his home was burglarized. Taylor’s indictment says that this time he reported as stolen a Sentry safe, his passport and some valuable jewelry, including a diamond ring.

These items of jewelry were also listed on a “valuable personal property” rider in his insurance plan, say investigators. That day he also submitted a claim to his insurance company for the stolen items.

“Taylor was paid for his lost passport, other items, and $50,000.08 for the value of the jewelry items … that he claimed were stolen,” according to the indictment.

After this burglary, Taylor later made a trip to Mexico — using that supposedly stolen passport, say investigators.

Ryan Kalamaya, Taylor’s defense attorney, said Monday that his client denies any wrongdoing, including any fraud or theft.

The attorney declined to comment on any further specific allegations, but said that Taylor “looks forward to vindicating his name as more evidence is introduced in the judicial process.”

Silt Police Chief Mike Kite said Saturday that Taylor was on leave with pay and, following standard procedures, an internal investigation had been launched.

Taylor is scheduled to be in Garfield County district court on Sept. 21 to address bond.

Editor’s note: the full version of this story can be found at PostIndependent.com

—Ryan Summerlin, Glenwood Springs Post-Independent

Beer run

At around 2:40 a.m. last weekend, a sheriff’s deputy saw a man walking down the middle of the street in Breckenridge and stopped to talk to him. The man appeared to be highly intoxicated and gave a different answer each time he was asked to provide a physical address.

The deputy and a Breckenridge police officer put the man in protective custody and took him to detox. On the way, the man mentioned that he was a beer distributor.

About an hour-and-a-half later, the Breckenridge officer noticed a car with its engine running, lights on and door wide open in a parking lot. The vehicle was unoccupied and had large pools of liquid under the exhaust pipes, leading the officer to believe it had been running for a long time.

The vehicle was registered to a beer company. Inside, the officer found a cell phone, which he took back to detox along with the keys. There, he confirmed that the items belonged to the man.

—Jack Queen, Summit Daily News


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