When 7-year-old Raleigh Shaw learned his homemade bike trailer had been stolen, he didn’t take it lying down.

Instead, he canvassed neighborhoods and shared pictures of the missing trailer with family and friends. The Durango Wheel Club posted photos of it and a short write-up on social media with a plea for people to keep an eye out for the trailer.

And it worked.

“I’ve had it since last year,” Raleigh said of his trailer. “I use it for selling sparkling waters at festivals. I kind of made it, so that’s why it’s pretty special to me.”

A family friend spotted the trailer May 25 in west Durango being pulled by a bald man wearing a blue tank top. The family friend called the boy’s father, Charles Shaw, to give a location and description of the man pulling the trailer.

Charles Shaw said he called police and hurried over to the Crestview neighborhood, near Forest Avenue and Arroyo Drive, where he confronted the man.

The man tried to speed away on the bike, but eventually fled on foot and was tracked down by police.

Jamie Lee Lucero, 41, of Durango also is suspected of riding a stolen bike that was being used to pull the trailer and had another stolen bike lying on top of the trailer, said Cmdr. Jacob Dunlop, with the Durango Police Department. He also was in possession of bolt cutters, wire cutters, a face mask and drug paraphernalia, according to an arrest affidavit.

He was arrested on suspicion of theft, being in possession of burglary tools and drug paraphernalia.

“It was all sort of sad when it went down,” Charles Shaw said. “It wasn’t like, ‘Yeah, we got you!’ It was a long line of bad decisions. It’s too bad; it seems like a lot of things have been getting stolen lately.”

Police said Lucero has a criminal history involving theft. It wasn’t immediately known if he is linked to any other bike thefts around town.

“He’s just a crime-of-opportunity type of guy,” Dunlop said.

Police have received an influx of reported bike thefts, which is partly attributable to warmer weather and more people riding around town, Dunlop said. But he reminded residents to secure their bikes to prevent theft.

“We do put a lot of effort into trying to recover stolen bicycles because we recognize they are transportation for people, and they’re also pride and joy,” he said. “But we’re also asking people to lock up their bikes with a good-quality lock and don’t leave them downtown for several days in a row.”

shane@durangoherald.com