Bicycle Thief Deceased

In a strange conclusion to a strange Austin news story, James Clayton, the subject of a 2009 profile by Rob D'Amico – see "The Bicycle Thief," April 10, 2009 – is dead. In 2009, Clayton pled guilty to stealing thousands of dollars' worth of bicycles and bicycle parts from Austin cyclists and was sentenced to four years in prison under a plea bargain; paroled within a couple of years, he was living in the Phoenix area. Clayton was in his late 30s and apparently died as a consequence of a heart condition. D'Amico noticed a Facebook post lamenting his death by Clayton's current girlfriend and later confirmed the death with Maricopa County. Clayton's Austin crimes particularly angered the local cycling community because he targeted people he had befriended. Remarkably, he had found a job in a Phoenix bike shop, whose owner was apparently unaware of his criminal history.