Homeless man credited for return of Eugene ice cream maker's stolen $12000 tricycle

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Homeless man credited for return of Eugene ice cream maker's stolen $12000 tricycle The Register-Guard

A Eugene ice cream company has recovered its $12,000 custom Tricycle, after enlisting the help of homeless people to find the stolen trike.

Staff at Coconut Bliss, a maker of coconut-milk ice cream products, realized Tuesday that the vehicle had been stolen.

But with the help of the public, including a homeless man named Steve, Eugene police made an arrest Wednesday morning and returned the trike to Coconut Bliss headquarters in the Whiteaker neighborhood.

The recumbent style ride is a three-wheeled vehicle with a frame that carries a portable freezer to transport Coconut Bliss treats to festivals and events, mostly during the summer.

“The idea of having the bike cart is to be able to take the ice cream out to the community,” Coconut Bliss Marketing Director Darcey Howard said. “And so the fact that the community came full circle and helped us recover it, it’s just really heartwarming. It’s really cool.”

Someone broke into the business’ shared courtyard on West First Avenue sometime between Friday and Monday and took the three-wheeled vehicle, a trailer and a portable freezer.

Employees on Tuesday filed a police report and posted photos of the trike — which was custom made and less than a year old — on Facebook and Craigslist.


The Facebook post was shared more than 300 times, according to Coconut Bliss events coordinator Emily Lesiak.

The post caught the attention of a customer of the Center for Appropriate Transport — the nonprofit group that made the trike.

The customer told the center, “ ‘Hey, I just saw that bike that got stolen. It’s over in this neighborhood off of Harlow and Coburg Road area,’ ” said Frank “Jay” Brown, Coconut Bliss events and sales assistant. “And so Emily and I were very excited. We ran out of the building, jumped in our truck and started trying to find it.”

Brown and Lesiak asked everyone from postal workers to residents who were gardening if they had seen the trike. No one had.

Then, on their way back to the office, they stopped by a homeless camp under the Ferry Street Bridge.

“A couple of the people there said they’d seen (the trike) a couple of times that day,” Brown said. “So we left them a business card and asked them to please call.”

Brown’s cellphone rang 20 minutes later.

A homeless man named Steve was on the phone. He said he could see the trike as he was talking to Brown.

Brown and Lesiak went out again to search. As they looked, Steve called several more times to give updates on the trike’s location.

“We were always like two steps behind,” Brown said.

At the end of their workday Wednesday, the two decided to call it quits. But since they both live near River Road and the riverbank bike paths, they decided to go for a ride to see if they could find the Coconut Bliss three-wheeled recumbent with its special frame.

Brown had been riding about 15 minutes when he reached Maurie Jacobs Park.

“I was trying to decide which way I was going to go,” Brown said. “And I looked to my left, and I see (the trike) coming over the bridge straight for me.”

Brown called Lesiak, who quickly arrived on her bike. They followed the Coconut Bliss vehicle, which has an electric assist.

The trike was “moving pretty quick,” Brown said, with a laugh.

Brown kept up, and yelled out loud enough for a large group of nearby people to hear, “Hey! That’s a stolen bike. Get off of it!”

The trike’s male rider “actually listened and stopped. He was very nonconfrontational or aggressive at all,” Brown said.

The man grabbed a large tote bag out of the cart and told Brown that he hadn’t stolen the trike but purchased it from “a guy named James” for $600.

Eugene police arrived and arrested Derek David Davia, 44, of Eugene. He faces charges of first-degree theft and possession of methamphetamine. He was booked into the Lane County Jail.

A trailer designed to carry a portable freezer had also been taken from Coconut Bliss, Brown said. Davia allegedly had attached the trailer to the frame of the recumbent trike in makeshift fashion.

When Brown first saw Davia on the three-wheeled vehicle, he also saw a woman lounging in the trailer.

“She was giggling and laughing and having a grand old time,” Brown said. “Until I caught them.”

The woman hopped out of the trailer and took off on foot, Brown said.

Davia had also attempted to paint the trailer, which was white, with green spray paint.

The city of Eugene parks department located the missing freezer sometime Wednesday and returned it to Coconut Bliss.

Brown said he doesn’t know where it was found, but he’s hoping to speak to city employees and learn if other missing bike parts were in the same location.

The custom made Coconut Bliss tricycle is in OK shape, Brown said.

Homeless man declines reward offer

Coconut Bliss employees contacted the homeless man named Steve on Thursday to thank him for his help in finding the three-wheeler. Steve, thought to be in his 60s, declined to be interviewed for this story.

The company has offered to reward Steve, but he declined the offer, not wanting to take credit for the trike’s safe return. They’ve asked him to think about what he needs, including food and services, and will contact him again soon, Lesiak said.

“It’s really heartwarming that the whole community came together around this bike cart,” said Howard, the marketing director. “Everything turned out great and we got our bike back. This wouldn’t have happened had it not been for the help of Steve.”

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• Great story about humanity and the goodwill of our fellow man...Way to go Steve! I think that is an Organic Engines rickshaw conversion. I would love to find one of those for sale.