After his $750 stroller was stolen off his front porch, Lindsay Taylor did what any web-savvy parent would do: he looked for it on Craigslist. Last Friday night, the red double Phil & Ted’s stroller that Taylor and his partner, Natasha, use for their two sons was stolen from outside their home.On Saturday, within minutes of pulling up the online classifieds site, Taylor had found a listing for a stroller that sounded like his. It had been posted at 3 a.m. that morning, two hours after Natasha heard something outside their window.

“He wouldn’t give his name,” Taylor said of the seller, whom he contacted through email, then spoke with on the telephone. “His phone number was blocked. I tried to be vague with my questions, but when I asked what colour the stroller was, he said, ‘Why do you want to know?’” Though suspicious, the seller did mention that he had another similar stroller, if Taylor was interested.

On Sunday, Taylor and a friend went to meet the seller in a parking lot. A car pulled up. The man in the driver’s seat popped the trunk, but stayed in the car while his female companion got out. Taylor went over, and the woman started telling him about the stroller’s many features. “Within three seconds I knew it was exactly mine,” said Taylor. “It had chalk marks my son had made. It was incredibly obvious.”

Taylor’s friend began snapping photos. Then, as Taylor began yelling at the couple, his friend got out of the car and grabbed the kidnapped carriage. “He started backtracking, saying he just bought the stroller that morning off the Internet,” said Taylor. “I made it clear he was not leaving with the stroller.”

When Taylor filed a police report, officers traced the licence plate and told Taylor the seller’s car was a rental. Const. Brandon Karstoff, who works with the community response unit warns the public against confronting suspected thieves themselves. “It could be a carload of people ready to do a robbery,” Karstoff said.

He suggested that “the right thing to do” is to print out the listing and contact police if it looks like a stolen item is being sold online. He helped recover a stolen bicycle listed on Kijiji last fall, by taking over the victim’s email account and setting up a fake buy, which resulted in an arrest.

Taylor said the reason he didn’t contact police is that he hadn’t written down the stroller’s serial number. Garrity doesn’t have hers, either.“That’s going to be tough,” said Karstoff. “How are we going to prove it’s their stroller?”

As my good friend and regular contributor Cathy says "I used to own a couple used cars worth that much. but a stroller? What the heck is it made of?"

Now THAT'S bling!

Suggested by Cathy. Thanks Cathy!

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