Theft takes the wheels off bike club partnership between school, Tuolumne River Trust

The theft of a couple dozen bicycles and other property from an airport neighborhood school will affect hundreds of students and family members.

The bikes, tools and parts are at the core of the Airport Bicycle Club, a partnership between Orville Wright Elementary and the Tuolumne River Trust. The club offers monthly rides to students and parents along the river just south of the campus. It also has an educational element, with workshops on bike safety, maintenance and repair for fourth- through sixth-graders.

Students learn that when they get a flat tire, they don’t just give up riding, they request a patch kit or a new tube and repair it, said Armando Nunez, administrator of student and family support services at Orville Wright.

He learned early Wednesday of the theft. “Not the news you want to wake up to,” he said at the school. “And now we’re finding out more and more items are missing than we originally thought.”

In an office at the school, he and Tuolumne River Trust community relations manager Edgar Garibay reviewed what was taken. Gone are up to 16 “fleet” bikes and tools bought through grant funding, other donated bikes, bike stands used for repairs, helmets, tires, tubes and recreational equipment including life jackets the trust uses for river field trips and other community events.

“Once the kids find out — we’ve not shared it yet — once they learn, I’m sure there’s going to be a number of kids who are going to be very upset,” Nunez said. “This is their program, it’s not ours really, it’s theirs. We just support their activities, wherever they want to go.”

The Airport Bicycle Club, or ABC, evolved from occasional dad-and-me rides started a couple of years ago by the school’s family resource center, Nunez said. The students’ enthusiasm for the rides drove TRT to get involved and gain grant funding for bikes, tools and gear.

The club serves more than 200 students and their families, and the bikes have been used for community events including Modesto RecFest, bike-to-school events with Safe Kids Stanislaus County and Modesto Kids to the Park Day, Garibay said.

As many as 16 of the bikes made up the grant-funded ABC “fleet,” Nunez and Garibay said. They’re the same make and model — Giant mountain bikes in black with blue and yellow accents — in various sizes. The fleet bikes, at least, all had their serial numbers registered with the Modesto Police Department.

The value of the stolen property, including the fleet bikes, donated bikes, parts, helmets, bike stands, life jackets and other equipment, has been estimated at $9,000, Garibay said. The loss was not covered by any insurance.

The thieves cut through a chain-link fence at a rear corner of the school with an alley on one side and George Rogers Park on the other. They cut locks and removed hardware to enter the big metal storage container.

There are surveillance cameras in the area, Nunez said, but he doesn’t anticipate they’ll show much, especially if the thieves approached and left by way of the park.

Anyone with information about the theft is urged to call the Modesto Police Department at 209-572-9500 or Stanislaus Area Crime Stoppers at 209-521-4636. Callers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward. Tips also can be submitted at www.stancrimetips.org.

This story was originally published December 19, 2018 at 3:44 PM.