Most people go through life without ever being accused of stealing a bicycle. Paul Martin has been arrested three times in three months to face charges for four separate bike thefts.
How’d that happen? Well, it goes a little something like this:
On July 9, Martin was detained by an off-duty police officer who said he saw Martin try to cut the lock off of a bike with bolt cutters in the 300 block of North Financial Plaza downtown. Martin was charged with attempted theft and criminal damage to property.
But prosecutors dropped that case on Aug. 30, according to court records. No reason was given in the publicly available documents.
One week later, Martin was arrested at his home after police accused him of being responsible for two more bike thefts: On June 27, Martin stole a woman’s bike from the 2400 block of West Addison, police said. And on Aug. 15, he allegedly cut the lock from a bike outside the Addison Red Line station and rode away with it.
Police tracked him down using CTA surveillance footage and records of a pawn shop transaction, they said.
Prosecutors charged Martin with two more counts of felony theft and he was released to await trial.
Police arrested Martin again on Sept. 26 to face more charges for allegedly stealing a bike from a home in the 3800 block of North Oakley on Sept. 6. Judge David Navarro released him on a recognizance bond and ordered him to go on electronic monitoring.
Barring new investigative discoveries, Martin is due back in court on Oct. 17.