Cops Recover Mike Binkley's Stolen Bike

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Mike Binkley has his bike back.

The WCCO anchor had biked to work earlier this month as part of national "Bike to Work Day," only to have his ride stolen while it was locked up and chained to the WCCO station bike rack along Marquette Avenue.

But on Friday, officer John Hokanson of the Minneapolis Police Department confiscated the bike from a downtown Minneapolis pawn shop, and returned the bicycle back to its rightful owner.

The city of Minneapolis requires pawn shops to hold pawned items for 30 days -- anything with a serial number -- so that police have a chance to compare those numbers to police reports before items are resold.

"The lesson here, obviously, is that people need to record serial numbers," said Binkley. "I was fortunate that the bike shop where I bought my bike still had record of the serial number."

Police said it's the pawn shop that will end up losing out on the money it paid out for the stolen bicycle.