substitutions

so, my boyfriend's bike was stolen a couple of days ago. it was right on his balcony, which is street-level. he'd just come home from a long day and didn't lock it up right away. sunday morning it was gone. it's shitty that it happened, because it was a really nice mountain bike.
the weird thing is, the thief replaced his bike with another. it's a street bike, in good condition. i've seen another student in the area riding the same bike, but i don't know where they're sold.
boyfriend is convinced that it was some drunk guy that decided to do a trade-in, since it was a saturday night. it's a good possibility since he lives in an all-student apartment complex close to the U. so boyfriend has been eagle-eyeing every biker he sees, checking the U's bike racks when he walks through the campus.

i was thinking, what if the alleged drunkard stole the first bike, then decided to trade it in for my bf's? i told bf that at least he wasn't the first person who didn't even get a swap. tried to make him feel better. don't think it worked, since i was just making things up.
BUT
how interesting is that? whether or not the person owned the street bike, it seems rare to replace the item you're stealing from someone. it's not as cool, and it's not a mountain bike, and it can't be as expensive, but still, it's functional. weird. weird and helpful. i think we should dust for prints, then take them to the cops. bf didn't really appreciate that idea, either.

i'm trying to decide if it's more insulting to replace the item with an okay-but-not-as-awesome thing.
i think it is.
people are weirder every day.