On a bright Saturday morning in mid-September, Maryam Pornour set out to turn a movie scene into reality for her son, Arsha.
The 14 year old’s stolen e-bike, lifted from Glebe Collegiate, had surfaced on Facebook Marketplace, barcode and Juventus sticker intact.
Pornour calmly checked the code while facing the seller. Then her husband made his move.
“I’ll pay one dollar,” Pornour recalls her husband saying, “since this is my son’s bike.”
The ordeal had started days before, on Sept. 9 at 3 p.m., Pornour was waiting for her sons to return from school when her phone rang. Arsha’s voice was raw with tears. His brand-new $1,000 e-bike, a proud first-day-of-school gift, had vanished.
Pornour said that morning, her son had carefully locked his bike in sight of his classroom window. At lunch, he checked it and everything seemed fine. But when the final bell rang and he rushed outside to scan the bike racks, his heart sank.
“Mom, my e-bike isn’t here. There’s just a broken lock,” Pornour recalled Arsha saying.
Pornour said she remembered that Glebe Collegiate had severel security cameras, so she contacted the school to try and get any footage of the crime. But hours stretched into days with no word from school officials about any footage. Pornour said that meanwhile Arsha grew withdrawn, unable to focus on class or sleep soundly at night.
“I couldn’t bear watching him spiral like that,” she says. In an attempt to lift his spirits, they bought him a battered second-hand bicycle, but it felt like a pale imitation of what had been lost.
Pornour then began scouring Facebook Marketplace, searching for listings that matched her son’s stolen Jetson e-bike. Message after message went unanswered until one seller’s reply piqued Pornour’s curiosity. Her suspicions grew when she noticed the remnants of a Juventus sticker in the photo posted with the ad.
She tried to keep her messages casual, pretending to be just another interested buyer, even bargaining over the price to maintain the appearance of a normal transaction.
To prepare for the meeting, Pornour found the original box for the Jetson e-bike, and Arsha told her the exact number of kilometers on the odometer — details that would help confirm whether the bike was his. Finally, Pornour and her husband agreed to meet the seller.
Their hearts pounded as they approached the rendezvous point. There it was: Arsha’s stolen bike. The barcode and Juventus sticker were undeniable proof.
The seller insisted he’d purchased it from someone else, but Pornour wasn’t deterred. Instead, she called police and waited with her husband by the curb.
According to Pornour, the seller didn’t try to run. He waited calmly with them until police arrived, even calling his brother to join him. At one point, he asked Maryam and her husband if he could go to Tim Hortons for a coffee.
When the officer finally arrived, he checked the bike’s details and reviewed the seller’s phone. “The police told us it looked like the seller had bought the e-bike from another person,” Pornour said. In the end, the officer returned the bike to Arsha’s family, but no charges were laid against the seller.
Ottawa police statistics show that 1,413 bikes were reported stolen in Ottawa in 2024, with thefts peaking in warmer months and in areas such as Centretown and Sandy Hill.
Public messaging on bike and e-bike theft emphasizes a few key points. Lock your bike in well-lit, highly visible areas with sturdy, immovable racks. Use a high-grade steel lock and secure the frame and wheels properly, ideally with more than one lock.
Const. Derek Thompson of the Ottawa police’s Neighbourhood Resource Team also recommends registering your bike with the free 529 Garage app, which allows police to quickly identify and return stolen bikes to their owners.
“We want to create a situation where thieves don’t have the opportunity to spend time defeating the lock,” Thompson told CBC.
Hicham Zouri hasn’t been as fortunate as Arsha, at least not yet. On Sept. 6, while dropping off a food order on Flora Street, his e-bike was stolen in the span of two minutes.
“I just bought it for work, and losing it was a huge shock,” Zouri said. “This job is my only source of income, and my e-bike was my tool.”
Zouri posted about his stolen bike on Facebook Marketplace and reported it to Uber and Ottawa police, but so far it hasn’t been found. He’s even received messages from strangers who’ve seen bikes like his around Centretown. But each time he searches, there’s no trace.
Maryam and Hicham asked for help with security camera footage because their bikes were stolen right in front of cameras, but neither has received results so far.
Ottawa Police say schools may provide video footage following incidents on or near their property. How often schools share footage happens depends on how frequent these incidents are.
When asked about the usefulness of security cameras, Ottawa police told Capital Current in an email statement: “Video footage is an important tool that can be used as evidence to help identify potential suspects. However, its value depends on timely review and the willingness of all parties to share and analyze the recordings.”
Ottawa Police advise e-bike owners to always put a unique sticker or mark on their bike, making it easier to trace and identify online if it is ever stolen.
When Pornour and her husband returned home with the recovered e-bike, they teased Arsha, pretending it was a new bike. But Pornour said her son’s disbelief quickly turned to joy as he realized the truth.
Meanwhile, Zouri said he’s still holds onto hope, refreshing his post on Marketplace in the chance that someone will spot his missing e-bike and help bring it home.
This was an excellent report and account of the event.
Thanks to the writer and the reporter.
I’m glad this family got their bike back. However, this report is a great reminder of why we should teach our children responsibility and the importance of reporting crimes.