Brookfield Resident Refuses To Be a Victim, Goes On Offensive

After having a bicycle stolen from the car parked in her garage, then finding the purported thief with the bike the next day, Brookfield resident Dawn DeCosta is looking for justice and to raise awareness among her neighbors.

According to DeCosta, someone was watching from the woods across the street on June 21 when her son put her bike in the truck of the car, which was parked in the garage of their Gereg Glenn Road home. When her son went back inside the house, the person entered the garage and left with the bike.

DeCosta called police that evening, who came to the house and wrote up a brief report on the break-in.

The next day, while searching for her bike in the woods, DeCosta came across another, which she believed belonged to the suspected thief. Again she called police, but was told that taking prints from the bike found in the woods or her car would be futile without a suspect in custody. She was also told to get the serial number for the bike in order to identify it when found.

While on her way to The Bicycle Center on Federal Road to get the number, DeCosta saw her bike and her suspect standing in front of the Subway near Four Corners.

“I found the bike by sheer luck,” DeCosta said, as she normally doesn’t take the route through Four Corners when traveling south down Federal Road. “It’s only because I had to get gas and only because I looked to the right.”

DeCosta parked her car and was able to sneak up on the suspect, Greg Buturla, and snatch her bike back without him noticing. She then began to scream and called the police.

DeCosta said she wanted to press charges, however officers told her they would have to take her bike as evidence and, with a triathalon coming up, DeCosta was not willing to part with it.

“The worst part was watching him walk away knowing he did this,” she said. “You either have to give up your stuff or come together as a community to watch out for this.”

“I understand her frustration, it’s almost like being double-victimized,” Brookfield Police Maj. Jay Purcell said. “But if you go to trial you have a right to be confronted by the best evidence — they’ll want to see that bike in court.”

By state law, stolen property under $250 can be photographed and returned to the victims immediately, however anything over that limit — such as a customized racing bike — must be taken into evidence unless released by a judge.

“They could petition the court to release it” ahead of trial, Purcell explained. “But that’s the court’s decision, not ours.”

Without the bike in their possession, Brookfield police could not move forward with charges on larceny by possession.

“The law is the law and the police are just following the letter of the law,” DeCosta said, however that doesn’t mean she’s going to give up.

“Since I couldn’t prosecute him, I need to let my neighbors know what’s going on,” DeCosta said. “I want him to be uncomfortable in Brookfield.”

Along with spreading the word through her neighborhood and the press, DeCosta also started a Facebook album, “I Caught The Sleezeball Who Stole My Bike,” to put his picture out there.

Purcell noted that Buturla is under court ordered supervision and that his supervisor was notified to carry out any disciplinary action.