Man who stole bicycle built for Burbank teen with cerebral palsy gets 4-year state prison sentence
A man who stole a customized bike belonging to a 13-year-old Burbank boy with cerebral palsy was sentenced this week to four years in state prison, officials said.
Carlos Andres Lopez, 47, pleaded no contest Monday to one count of first-degree residential burglary, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.
In January, security cameras caught Lopez stealing the bike, valued at $5,300, from a garage in the 4500 block of Clybourn Avenue. He also took a sewing machine from the camper shell of a Ford Ranger.
As part of the plea agreement, Lopez reportedly agreed to pay restitution to the victims for damages to the bike, the sewing machine and to the Ford Ranger.
Forensic evidence lifted from the bike — which was recovered on Jan. 28, five days after it was reported stolen — led investigators to Lopez, who was on probation and had prior criminal convictions.
Lopez was arrested after he showed up to a scheduled meeting with his probation officer.
According to police, Lopez told investigators he planned to sell the bike he stole, but after seeing the widespread news coverage of the theft — which included surveillance photos of him wheeling the bike out of the apartment complex wearing a checkered beanie and gloves — he abandoned the idea, and the $5,300 bike.
The next morning, a woman spotted the bike on the side of a road in Silver Lake and called police.
Hours later, investigators returned the bike to the boy’s home.
“I ran down there, I opened the door, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, it’s it, it’s it,’” the boy’s mother, Allesha Jeffries, said at the time. “‘It’s beat up, but it’s it.’”
To purchase the bike two years ago, her son Damian “DJ” Jeffries applied for and received two grants, which together came out to $3,500, and raised an additional $1,800 by appealing to family and friends.
After the incident, Vespa Sherman Oaks purchased and donated a new bike for Damian, while Allesha Jeffries said she sent the bike recovered by police back to the manufacturer to fix and award to another family.
She said Tuesday that she plans to use the $2,300 raised during a crowdfunding campaign on a locking device, as well as for a trainer so that Damian, who is recovering from a surgery in March, can use the bike indoors.
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Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com
Twitter: @atchek
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