Man steals bikes 'to speak with cops'

HASTINGS, Mich. (WOOD) - A 23-year-old Hastings man faces felony charges for stealing bicycles because, he said, he "felt this was a way to be able to speak with the cops.”

On August 10, the police received a call about a man pushing a bicycle away from the Ace Hardware Store on E. State Street and across the Michigan Avenue bridge. When police arrived, the man admitted he broke into the store and took the bike, then took police to an unused warehouse where he had hidden five other bikes he previously stole.

The man, Mark Lewis Wellman Jr., said he'd been drinking and hoped to get caught because he “had nothing else to do and felt this was a way to be able to speak with the cops," police said.

Later that day, a police car had a flat tire, and Wellman also admitted letting the air out.

He faces a felony charge of breaking and entering. As police officials said in a news release, "Although he did not get to keep the bicycles he did get a chance to talk to cops."