Update: Roanoke man charged with theft of bikes

ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - Roanoke Police say they have made an arrest following the theft of bikes from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southwest Virginia.

41-year-old Rodney L. Andrews of Roanoke was taken into custody Monday evening.

Police say he is charged him with two counts of property damage, one count of petit larceny, and one count of grand larceny.

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A week after someone took bikes worth more than $15,000 from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southwest Virginia, police are still investigating. And now the community is also stepping up to help.

The initial theft happened last weekend. Apparently, the thief made another attempt to steal even more bikes several days later. He took 9 bikes, worth thousands of dollars

Since then, individuals have donated bikes to the program, and Monday morning, radio station K92 turned to local businesses and listeners for financial help.

“We’ve been talking about the Boys & Girls Club and how they had $15,000 worth of bikes stolen from their facility,” Monica Brooks told the station’s audience, “so we are trying to help them out in any way possible.”

“And donate whatever you can,” said Antoine Terrell. “It doesn’t have to be 2500. It can be $25.”

The on-air appeal came together quickly, with Brooks and Terrell leading the charge.

‘It’s a wonderful opportunity for everyone in the community to work together,” Brooks told WDBJ7.

“You just forget you have each other’s backs,” added Terrell. “And at times like this you’re reminded of that.”

The bikes were stored in a locked trailer outside the Boys & Girls Club building in southeast Roanoke. They were used for a popular mountain biking club there.

Rebekah Meadows is CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southwest Virginia.

“We know we’re well-loved here,” Meadows said in an interview Monday morning. “We’re well taken care of by our community ongoing, but we know there are lots of needs in our community, so to see people come out so strongly to support this and our kids means a lot.”

Roanoke Police are on the case, but tell us they have nothing to report at this time.

By mid-afternoon, we were told K92 had raised more than $13,000 toward the $15,000 goal.

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