Josh Wolfe of Powell finally got his stolen “Stolen” brand bike back late last month — but not before it was stolen again, and a day after a kind person had anonymously replaced his stolen bike.

On Oct. 19, less than a week after Josh’s plight was publicized in the Tribune, a kindhearted soul made arrangements for the 11-year-old to pick out a new bicycle from Larsen’s Bicycles to replace his missing one.

That was a gesture deeply appreciated by Josh and his family, but it wasn’t to be the end of the saga.

“It was an adventure, from what I understand,” said Carolee Neal, Josh’s mother.

On the afternoon of Oct. 20, a North Gilbert Street resident noticed Josh’s BMX-style bike abandoned by an alley fence and contacted Powell police.

The officers who happened to be in the area didn’t have room for the bike in their car, and they asked the community service officer to come pick it up, said Powell Police Chief Tim Feathers.

While the community service officer was en route, the resident reported that two people appeared to be loading the bike into a van, Feathers said.

Josh’s bike was being taken again.

Officers caught up with the van and its occupants at the vehicle’s registered owner’s address, but they denied knowing where the bicycle was. The bike wasn’t in the vehicle or in their house, Feathers said.

Ultimately, officers found the bike had been thrown into a neighbor’s yard, and the neighbor retrieved the bike for police.

One of the van’s occupants, a 28-year-old Powell woman, was cited for interfering with the investigation and she apologized for not telling police where the bike was, Feathers said.

He said it was unclear how the bicycle came to be in the North Gilbert Street alley.

“If the neighbor hadn’t seen it and reported it to our guys, who knows how many times this bike would have been stolen before it got recovered — if it got recovered,” Feathers said.

Once the stolen bicycle was returned, Carolee said Josh tried to return the donated bike to Larsen’s Bicycles, but was unable to because it was used.

So Josh plans to repair a few broken things on his Stolen bike and give it to his younger brother, Psalm. Then Psalm will give his bicycle — after a few repairs are made — to some other boy who needs one.

Carolee said the family is very thankful for the anonymous donor’s generosity and hopes he or she isn’t upset about providing a new bike just before the old one was returned. But she said Josh wanted to do the right thing and make sure another boy would benefit from that person’s unexpected generosity.

Last year, Josh won a bike in a drawing, but, already having a bike, he gave it to another boy.

In the time since Josh’s bicycle was stolen from his yard, a gap in the family’s backyard fence was repaired, a latch on the gate was replaced, and a new shed built in the backyard. That’s where the boys’ bicycles are kept these days.

“We don’t want any more bicycles stolen,” Carolee said.

Feathers urged residents to secure their property and stay alert for thefts.

“In a perfect world ... you wouldn’t have to do that, but we don’t live in a perfect world, we live in a fallen world, and these things happen,” Feathers said.