A Vancouver Island business owner is crediting an anonymous Good Samaritan on social media for helping him locate his stolen motorcycle.
Dustin Hofer of Pride Motorsports in Mill Bay posted surveillance video to Facebook showing a break-in and theft.
“These guys had broken in, they cut the lock, came in and grabbed the motorcycle,” Hofer said.
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The video was was viewed and shared more than 30,000 times.
“So, I actually asked people to put their heads together, put their minds together and see if anybody knows these guys or has seen this vehicle,” Hofer said.
Within 24 hours, he had received about 500 tips, one of them from an anonymous source in Vancouver that led him to the alleged thieves.
Hofer set up a meeting under the guise of buying the bike back and decided to livestream the confrontation.
“You guys are on camera,” he says in the video. “The police are on their way, thank you very much.”
“You know it was actually a pretty scary feeling,” Hofer said. “The three of us that were in the truck, we agreed that if anything were to get hairy or violent that we would leave.”
Police are warning against vigilante justice.
“What they didn’t realize, they’re dealing with a property that’s well-known to us,” RCMP Const. Gary O’Brien said.
“They’re known for criminal activity and they’re also known to use violence in criminal activity so they’re putting themselves in harm’s way. We don’t want the public to do that.”
An officer was called and responded to the scene.
While the individuals involved are not cooperating and charges are unlikely, Hofer says he accomplished what he set out to do — get his bike back.
“This is all credit to social media and the folks that shared and liked our video,” he said.