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Former Steamboat teacher suspected of burglarizing bike shop

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — A former Steamboat Springs High School industrial arts teacher is suspected of committing another burglary.

This time, fingerprint evidence led to the arrest of 45-year-old Dustin “Dusty” Dike.

Dustin Dike

The burglary at Orange Peel Bicycle Service was discovered March 5, 2017, after an alarm went off. Three bicycles, parts and accessories were stolen with a value of more than $18,000.

Steamboat police sent evidence from the burglary to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. The evidence included packaging that had been found on the floor.

More than a year after the burglary, police received the evidence report back from CBI on Monday.

“Is is not as fast as suggested on television crime shows, but we do see results,” Steamboat Detective Sam Silva said in a news release.

The report revealed a fingerprint from Dike had been found on bicycle pedal packaging, according to Dike’s arrest warrant.

Dike is currently serving a sentence at Routt County Jail for unrelated crimes. For the Orange Peel burglary, he was booked on suspicion of felony second-degree burglary and theft.

Dike was first arrested June 16, 2016, after police suspected him of stealing a $75,000 backhoe. He did not return to teach at the high school.

Steamboat police then discovered evidence that led them to believe Dike had committed other crimes. Police believed Dike burglarized a ski shop in Gondola Square as well as a business on 13th Street, which reported $7,000 worth of items had been stolen. He was also suspected of stealing a motorcycle and convicted of breaking into a business on 13th Street that sells landscaping equipment.

During a sentencing hearing in August, Dike’s attorney Eric Fenster told Judge Shelley Hill that Dike’s compulsive behavior was caused by the cocktail of medications that Dike is taking for Parkinson’s disease, which Dike has had for nine years.

Dike was sentenced to a year in jail and four years of probation.

To reach Matt Stensland, call 970-871-4247, email mstensland@SteamboatToday.com or follow him on Twitter @SBTStensland.


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