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£8,500 e-bike stolen from Spain football star Cesc Fabregas

Alleged thief failed to show up in court

A man has been charged with stealing a customised £8,500 e-bike from Spain and Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas. 24-year-old Vlad Grigoruta is also accused of two counts of fraud relating to an attempt to change the bike’s security code and finger print readers.

Sky Sports reports that the custom Greyp G12S was produced for Fabregas as a surprise, but was stolen from an address in Belgravia, central London, on February 21.

In a blog post, Greyp Bikes' head of sales Dominik Vrbanac wrote: “We were contacted by a guy saying that he changed pin number on his Greyp and forgot it. His fingerprint ID conveniently stopped working so unlocking it with his fingertip wasn’t an option.

“This struck as a bit odd, but we followed the procedure and asked for the serial number. Once we got it we realised that the number he shared with us was, in fact, the serial number of Cesc’s Greyp.”

Vrbanac said at this point the firm started “snooping around” and established that Cesc hadn’t sold the bike or lent it to someone, it had been stolen.

He said the thief continued to correspond with him using the email address "fabregasc332 [at] gmail.com".

“Since I was the contact person to the apparent thief I decided we’re getting the Greyp back. We exchanged [a] dozen e-mails in which he pretended he was Cesc himself and I pretended I believed him until I finally convinced him to give me his address. It took me a month or so.”

Police arrested Grigoruta, but didn’t immediately find the Greyp. It was eventually tracked down a few weeks later.

“The most painful part for Greyp team was that the custom paint job we did was basically destroyed and overpainted,” wrote Vrbanac.

He said his team replaced broken parts and restored the bike and it is now back with Fabregas.

Grigoruta was due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday but failed to show up. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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15 comments

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Dawdler | 5 years ago
0 likes

There are some proper twats on this forum !

Avatar
Yorkshire wallet replied to Dawdler | 5 years ago
4 likes

Dawdler wrote:

There are some proper twats on this forum !

Thanks. It means a lot. People think it comes easy but you've got to put the time in on smaller forums and work your way up. 

 

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brooksby | 5 years ago
1 like

When this story appeared, with the associated photo, for one terrible moment I thought Road.cc had been hacked...

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dassie | 5 years ago
0 likes

Why would CF want an e-bike in the first place?  I wouldn't have thought with his level of fitness he'd need any assist.

* I note it seems to have been a gift, or something.

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StraelGuy replied to dassie | 5 years ago
1 like

dassie wrote:

Why would CF want an e-bike in the first place?  I wouldn't have thought with his level of fitness he'd need any assist.

* I note it seems to have been a gift, or something.

 

That was my first thought too. If I wanted to give an e-bike away, a footballer would not be my first choice .

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longassballs | 5 years ago
1 like

Probably the most objectionable footballer out there, but a stolen bike is a stolen bike

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vonhelmet | 5 years ago
1 like

Right, so it’s ok to steal from rich people, is it?

Good to know.

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John Smith replied to vonhelmet | 5 years ago
4 likes

vonhelmet wrote:

Right, so it’s ok to steal from rich people, is it?

Good to know.

 

I don’t think anyone is saying that. More that there is a lot of fuss over this because of the price when in reality the theft of a cheap old winter bike from one of us is far more consequential to the victim than this is.

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Yorkshire wallet replied to vonhelmet | 5 years ago
2 likes

vonhelmet wrote:

Right, so it’s ok to steal from rich people, is it?

Good to know.

I hate football so I'll give this a pass. Like religion, the world would be better place without it. Think of the violence and waste of police and NHS resources it's caused over the years. 

I went to school with an idiot who got arrested when Leeds smashed Brighton up. He was only 16 or 17 and it was the highlight of his life as a Leeds fan. He honestly thought it was like a holy war or something. 

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HarrogateSpa | 5 years ago
11 likes

The comments so far are just sour greyps.

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vonhelmet | 5 years ago
2 likes

And never be a dick about someone being richer than you. Jealousy is ugly.

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Yorkshire wallet | 5 years ago
3 likes

Must have really hit in the pocket. He would have had to work 10 minutes to buy another one.

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BehindTheBikesheds replied to Yorkshire wallet | 5 years ago
5 likes

Yorkshire wallet wrote:

Must have really hit in the pocket. He would have had to work 10 minutes to buy another one.

I hope you have your bike stolen so we can weep for your loss, stop being a bitter gimp because someone earns more than you.

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hawkinspeter replied to BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
5 likes

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

Yorkshire wallet wrote:

Must have really hit in the pocket. He would have had to work 10 minutes to buy another one.

I hope you have your bike stolen so we can weep for your loss, stop being a bitter gimp because someone earns more than you.

That's uncalled for. Never wish that anyone's bike is stolen.

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Yorkshire wallet replied to BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
2 likes

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

Yorkshire wallet wrote:

Must have really hit in the pocket. He would have had to work 10 minutes to buy another one.

I hope you have your bike stolen so we can weep for your loss, stop being a bitter gimp because someone earns more than you.

Odd coming from someone who often ends up in bitter arguments over something and nothing. If you can't have a dig at obscene football wages then what can you have a dig at? Do you really think he gives a single fuck about it? It's like me having dropping 10p on the floor. He didn't even pay for it anyway. 

Have you actually looked at the bike in question? Totally illegal to use on UK roads and limited to 'only' 70kph! It's barely a bicycle with that much go. In fact it's not really. No doubt if he actually did use it with other cyclists about you'd be crying about him. 

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