A man was arrested in Cape Coral after law enforcement officials said he stole\u00a0 an e-bike, which was caught on surveillance video.\u00a0<\/p>\n
James Lovett, 50, has been charged with grand theft between $750 and $5,000 stemming from an incident that took place Saturday morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to Cape Coral Police Department officials, officers were called to a business in the 4500 block of Del Prado Boulevard, South, just before 8 a.m. in regard to a theft.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Police officials said the caller told dispatcher he had gone inside the business for less than 10 minutes, and that he e-bike was missing when he came back outside.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The caller told police his e-bike was valued at more than $1,500 and had saddlebags containing approximately $800 worth of equipment used for his business.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Police officials said while officers were at the scene, a business employee told them he had gone looking for the stolen e-bike and encountered a man and woman roughly a block south. Police officials said that man was later identified as Lovett.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe employee asked Lovett and the woman if they had seen the stolen e-bike,\u201d a release from CCPD stated. \u201cLovett asked whether there was a reward for finding it, and the employee told him there would be a $100 reward.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs officers were speaking with the reporting party and business employee, Lovett approached them and said he had found the e-bike. He was wearing a white tank top and white, red and dark-colored pajama pants. Lovett told them the bike was in the 4500 block of Southeast 15th Avenue. The reporting party found the bike at that location and gave Lovett the $100 reward. Lovett left the area.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police continued to state another officer spoke to the woman who had been with Lovett, and that he had approached her before the employee arrived and asked \u201cif she would \u2018party\u2019 or \u2018hang out\u2019 with him if he could come up with $50,\u201d and she declined.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe woman said \u00a0when the business employee approached them looking for the stolen e-bike, Lovett asked if there was a reward for finding it,\u201d CCPD\u2019s release stated. \u201cAfter being told there was a $100 reward, Lovett walked in the direction of his residence.\u201d<\/p>\n
CCPD officials said surveillance video from a nearby business showed the 9-1-1 caller arriving at the business on his bike, and that three minutes after his arrival, a man matching Lovett\u2019s description and wearing the described clothing, walked toward the area where the e-bike had been parked three minutes later. Police officials state one minute later, the video showed the man matching Lovett\u2019s description was seen riding the e-bike away from the business in the direction from which he had originally come.\u00a0<\/p>\n
CCPD officials state the woman who had been with Lovett positively identified him as the man shown in the surveillance footage. Officers went to Lovett\u2019s residence in the 4500 block of Southeast 14th Avenue, where they found him outside.<\/p>\n
Lovett was arrested and taken to Lee County Jail. As of Monday evening he is still in custody being held on a $10,000 bond.\u00a0<\/p>\n