Two men have been arrested in a string of break-ins at Houston area bicycle shops after undercover police posed as buyers on the Internet, Local 2 Investigates reported Tuesday.

Police officers from several jurisdictions started investigating 11 brazen burglaries at bike shops beginning in August, resulting in at least 30 bicycles being stolen and a $100,000 damage estimate.

"They started to appear online very quickly, the day after or the day of the theft," said Assistant Chief J. J. Laine of the Harris County Precinct 5 Constable's office.

Houston-based Bike Barn reported three separate break-ins at its store on Weslayan near Bellaire.

Owner Lee Neathery called it "frustrating," saying, "All of our stores that have been broken into are in very high-traffic areas, in good neighborhoods, not a place that you would worry about locking up your doors and going home at night."

She said the thieves sometimes passed over $6,000 to $8,000 bicycles and simply grabbed cheaper models.

"I'm not sure that they had the knowledge or the background to select bikes, nor the time, so they're grabbing whatever bikes are near the door," said Neathery.

Houston Cycling Center stores were broken into on two occasions. In one Jersey Village break-in, police recovered a $7,000 bicycle when a seller in Pearland offered it for sale online. Police said no charges were filed against him.

More stolen bicycles started to show up on Craigslist and eBay, according to investigators, so Laine went undercover to pose as a buyer.

"I asked to see the bike and they brought the bike out of the truck. I took a careful look at it and I observed the serial number to match the bicycle that had just been stolen," said Laine.

Two men were arrested in that sting near Airline and the 610 North Loop. Troy Dean Hughes, 39, was jailed on a felony charge of theft. Police said he was also carrying a gun when he was arrested, resulting in an added charge of unlawfully carrying a weapon. He has a lengthy criminal record dating back to 1989, including numerous trips to jail for assault, robbery, theft and two other convictions for carrying a gun.

Also arrested was Wesley McCloy Latin, 29, of Houston. He was arrested for theft last year, but the unrelated charge was dismissed. He served three days in jail for possessing marijuana last year as well.

The Bike Barn's owner, Neathery, said it's a tough time for small businesses to be hit by such a high-dollar racket. She referred to the eight different crimes at her stores, saying, "The accumulation of eight robberies could have easily wiped out a business ... it's been overwhelming," she said.

In addition to posting the stolen bicycles online for sale, Neathery said the thieves were also sending text messages in hopes of selling the loot.

While working with undercover deputies on the sting, she answered one ad but the bike was already sold when she called the number. The thieves then texted her at that number when a new stolen bicycle was ready for sale.

Just hours after a different bicycle shop was broken into, she received a text message offering one of the bikes for sale. The text described it as brand new and offered a sale price that amounts to a fraction of the bicycle's actual value.

Neathery said some of the photos that were displayed in the online sales ads actually included price tags from her store, which was further evidence for police.

"There was actually a Bike Barn price tag photographed and placed on the ad, and those tags are always cut off when we sell a bike," she said.

In one break-in, she said the burglars got so frustrated that they grabbed the entire wooden display that raised a bicycle into the air to showcase it.

"I just worry about what's the next business out in Houston that they're going to find a black market for and start down that path," said Neathery. "We'd like to know who's buying these. We feel like that secondary market is feeding the criminals, and part of stopping these criminals is stopping that secondary market."

Laine added, "Any time you're offered anything for sale and it's too good to be true, it's usually too good to be true. It's buyer beware. The warning message there is that if you purchase something and it's stolen, you could lose your money because we will recover the stolen property."

Laine urged anyone who purchased bicycles from a "Wes," or anyone who suspects a new bike was recently sold online to call his department at 281-492-3600. Officers have the serial number on all of the stolen bikes, and he said additional arrests could be made if anyone else is found to be selling or even riding the stolen bikes.