Has anyone actually recovered a stolen bike/scooter after GPS showed it inside a house?
Hi everyone,
I’m hoping to hear from people who have actually gone through this.
About a month ago, my Segway electric scooter was stolen from the Chelsea MBTA station. The scooter has built-in Segway GPS, and for the past month it has consistently shown what appears to be the same location inside a multi-family home in Somerville.
I’m intentionally not posting the exact address because I don’t want the person who has it to realize I know where it is.
Since the theft, I’ve tried just about everything I can think of:
- Filed a report with MBTA Transit Police (since it was stolen from an MBTA station).
- Contacted Chelsea Police, Boston Police, and Somerville Police.
- Provided proof of ownership, the serial number, and GPS screenshots showing the scooter’s location.
An MBTA detective was also assigned to the case. He contacted me shortly after the report was filed, requested all of my evidence, and I sent everything he asked for. Since his initial email (which included my case number), I haven’t received any updates or replies to my follow-up emails.
The response from every department has essentially been the same: because the scooter appears to be inside a residence, they can’t simply enter the property without a warrant.
So my question is:
Has anyone here actually recovered a stolen bike or scooter after knowing exactly where it was? If so, how did it happen?
Did the police eventually obtain a warrant? Did they wait until the bike/scooter was moved? Was there another legal avenue that ultimately led to recovery?
I’m not looking for advice on confronting anyone or trying to recover it myself. I’m only interested in hearing from people who have been in a similar situation and what actually worked.
At this point, I’m just trying to understand whether there’s a realistic path forward or if my only option is to keep monitoring the GPS and hope it eventually moves, because they haven't moved it since it appeared in Somerville. (It is passcode locked).
I’d really appreciate hearing any firsthand experiences or suggestions.
Thanks!