La Costa Hills bike theft story confused

The witness said she saw a man reaching for the door handle of her friend’s apartment and she called out to him, “Do you live here?” It was still dark, before sunrise, the morning of September 13. The witness, identified as Julie, said she went out onto her balcony after she heard noises outside.

The man answered “Yes” and she said “Where?” and he said “Down by the pool.”

“I said, 'No you don’t' and 'I know what you’re doing' and 'Get out of here.'”

Julie said she watched the man walking from one side of the building to the other on Caminito Encanto in Carlsbad. The man had on black gloves and a baseball hat and a backpack. She guessed he was in his 20s.

Julie identified Ryan Joseph Pumar, 26, as the man she saw that morning. She was a witness at a hearing on Monday October 22, for a man accused of stealing an expensive bicycle.

Julie said she went inside her apartment and got a flashlight and her cell phone and went outside to get video of the stranger. She said she saw Pumar again by the pool area, and again later inside a car; she said that all three encounters were before sunrise, while it was still dark.

Carlsbad police officer Adam Young testified that later the same morning he was called to a scuffle near a guard’s hut at La Costa Hills, a gated community. The guard reported that two men in a truck attempted to stop a man who was riding one bike while pushing along a second bike by the handlebars.

The alleged bike thief escaped into a nearby homeless encampment, according to officer Young. Soon Pumar was located, and he told the cop he was glad the guy in the truck got his bike back, according to testimony. Pumar said the bike was actually taken by his brother Romeo Nigg, and the bike was too nice for his brother to have, and he regretted trying to help his brother by hurrying the bike into the brush, before it was noticed. Officer Young said there is surveillance video showing brother Nigg following Pumar, about 50 yards behind.

The bike owner testified that he got he got his $2,000 bicycle back the same day he reported it stolen. He said it was a Cannondale Synapse Carbon mountain bike, with powergrip pedals, an AssSaver extended fender on the seat, and snakeskin-wrapped handlebars.

Honorable judge William Wood noticed that Pumar was on parole for a prior, strike, robbery conviction at the time of the new offense. The judge declined defense’s request to reduce two felony theft charges to misdemeanors. According to San Diego County court records, Pumar has ten other criminal cases, dating back to 2010 when he was 18 years old.