A man who had his bike stolen was able to retrieve it by monitoring Craigslist, setting up a dummy email account and ultimately helping police set up a sting operation to nab the person selling it.

This is according to details in a Somerville Police report.

According to the report, the owner of a bike that was stolen on Oct. 18 noticed that it was posted for sale on Craigslist. It was a Surly Cross Check bicycle that's worth about $1,150 when new. The victim set up a dummy Yahoo.com email address and exchanged several emails with the Craigslist seller, "Cindi," who was asking $800 for the bike, the report says.

The victim then went to police. Investigators told him to arrange a meeting with Cindi in front of Market Basket at 5 p.m. on Oct. 23, according to the report.

A Somerville detective, posing as the victim, showed up at the Market Basket and met with Joseph Alan Perez, 35, of 457 Somerville Ave., the report says.

The detective told Perez he didn't look much like a Cindi, and Perez said Cindi was nearby with the bike, according to the report.

The two walked over to a woman who was with the bike, and Perez told the detective he had recently purchased it for $200, but he needed to sell it for $800, according to the report.

The detective was able to see the bike had a matching serial number to the one that was stolen, so he called in back-up and put Perez in handcuffs, the report says.

The woman told police Perez had asked to use her email address to advertise the bike on Craigslist and that he had offered to give her $300 if it sold, according to the report.

Police believe she was duped into helping Perez, who, it turns out, was already being monitored by a GPS ankle bracelet by the Board of Probation.

Perez was charged with receiving stolen property over $250.

Please remember that allegations contained in police reports do not indicate a conviction.