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Two men have been charged after two cyclists on a cross-country ride for charity had their high-end bicycles stolen in downtown Winnipeg last month, police say.
Val Duquenne, 24, and Thomas Clark, 23, stopped in for a morning interview at CBC Manitoba’s Portage Avenue studio on July 24, when their two bicycles, worth about $15,000, were taken from a rack on the back of their car parked on Young Street.
The friends from New Brunswick started their Men Don’t Ride Alone charity ride in North Sydney, N.S., on June 22, with the goal of reaching Victoria in September and raising $250,000.
On Aug. 7, Winnipeg police officers recognized one of the stolen bicycles and stopped the man riding it on Bannatyne Avenue W., west of Keewatin Street, police said in a Wednesday news release.
The rider, a 60-year-old man, was charged with possessing property obtained by crime over $5,000 and was released on a promise to appear.
Investigators believe he and another unidentified person got the bikes through a trade with the man now accused of stealing them.
That man, 42, was arrested at the intersection of Notre Dame Avenue and Balmoral Street on Sunday as part of the Winnipeg Police Service’s open drug use crackdown. Officers seized a small amount of methamphetamine from him and turned him over to property crime investigators, according to police.
He was charged with two counts of theft over $5,000, trafficking property obtained by crime over $5,000 and possession of fentanyl. He was also charged with failing to comply with his probation, and has been detained in custody.
The bicycle recovered on Bannatyne was returned to its owner, but the other is still missing, police said.
Shortly after the bikes were stolen, Duquenne said Winnipeg Canadian Tire stores came together to donate $9,000, and another person donated $5,000 to get them back on the road.