Police: Man Steals Bike, Returns it for Poor Performance

A 35-year-old Waukesha man is facing charges alleging he stole a bike from an area store, then returned it later the same day after he was upset with its performance.

Addison S. Graikowski was charged in Wednesday with one count of retail theft. If convicted, he faces up to nine months in prison and $10,000 in fines.

According to the criminal complaint:

On June 27, Graikowski walked into not wearing a shirt and was immediately asked by a security officer to put one a shirt in order to shop at the store. Graikowski complied, however, 17 minutes later, the officer was contacted by another employee, who said Graikowski had just stolen a bottle of cold medicine.

The officer then checked surveillance video of the incident and noticed Graikowski actually took $404 worth of merchandise, including DVDs, a computer game and a men’s mountain bike. He tried to purchase the medicine, but his debit card was declined twice, so he just walked out of the store with it.

About 1-½ hours later, Graikowski walked back in the store with the stolen bike and parked it by customer service. He selected another bike, went to pay for it, but his debit card was again declined.

The security officer then looked at Graikowski’s pants and noticed the top of a bottle of mouthwash sticking out. He detained Graikowski and also found a hunting knife, batteries and energy drink that were taken from the store.

Graikowski admitted to stealing the items, saying he wanted to see how stupid Target was. He said the bike he stole was a “piece of (expletive),” so he decided to take it back and get another bike.

He will make his initial appearance in court Sept. 17.