Court documents: Suspect uses hatchet to break in and steal from OKC bike shop

OKLAHOMA CITY ( KFOR ) – The Oklahoma County District Attorney’s office has filed formal charges against four people allegedly linked to a labor day weekend burglary at a Capitol Hill bike shop.

The incident happened August 31 in the early hours of the morning at Capitol Co-Op . Surveillance video shared with News 4 shows a man breaking into the front door with a hatchet. The man goes inside, grabs two bikes and comes back out where he’s joined by a second male.

“Grab that and go back and get another one,” one of the men is heard saying.

A suspect is then seen in the surveillance video heading back inside of the store and coming out with a third bike. Less than two hours later, court documents say the suspect comes back to the store and takes a fourth bike.

“They took four and out of the four there probably was $25,000 to $30,000 worth of bikes,” said Capitol Co-Op owner Chad Hodges.

Hodges said he remembers getting a call from an employee that one of their doors had been broken into. When he reviewed video, Hodges said he got the idea the suspects didn’t know what types of bikes they were stealing.

“Most of the bikes in here don’t have pedals on them,” said Hodges. “So when you jump on a bike, there’s no way you’re going to pedal it down the street. They just kind of jumped on them and rolled downhill on Robinson.”

Hodges said the theft came as a blow, but that he was grateful at the time the suspects didn’t take more bikes.

“They could have pulled up with a U-Haul and totally emptied our space,” said Hodges.

Hodges said Oklahoma City Police had been a big help in tracking the suspects down, and after getting a tip he shared with authorities, law enforcement was able to connect the dots.

The crime was traced back to suspects Asterik Graessle, Elizabeth Medellin, James Bullock and Jacob Sawatzky; who have all been formally charged.

According to court documents, Graessle was the suspect seen breaking into the shop with the hatchet and the other suspects are accused of helping try to cover up the crime.

Documents say, after getting Hodges tip, police requested video from an apartment complex where Hodges was told stolen property in the area usually ends up. Video surveillance from that complex showed the bikes being taken to a wooded area north of the complex and the wheels being removed from the frames.

Documents say Medellin, Graessle’s girlfriend, helped drag and wheel a cart to where the bikes were disassembled and used the cart to load them into a car. After that, the parts were covered with a blanket and taken into a unit in the complex belonging to suspect Bullock.

Documents also say, the bikes were kept in the apartment for five days and then taken to a storage facility unit Bullock rented. Graessle and Sawatzky were both seen on surveillance video before the burglary leaving the apartment unit, before returning in different shirts pulling a cart; while also carrying a large bag.

Hodges said police were able to find all of the parts, but that they won’t be able to maintain their original value.

“All the bikes have been damaged to some extent, and some of them, we won’t be able to do anything with now; but maybe we’ll be able to recoup a little bit of that,” said Hodges.

Hodges says he’s since replaced the glass in the front door and beefed up security to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.

All of the suspects are facing charges for conspiracy and possession of stolen property.

Graessle is facing additional charges for second degree burglary and grand larceny.

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