Found! Ruage's stolen trike

Elizabeth Flores, Star Tribune

Ruage MacKay and care worker Kristen Kueppers thanked the St. Paul Police for returning the bike that had been stolen from his back yard.

With the return of his trike Friday morning came the return of Ruag Mackay's smile. It went missing Monday with the trike.

By ANTHONY LONETREE and PAUL WALSH, Star Tribune staff writers

Last update: September 26, 2009 - 12:11 AM

Ruage has his beloved trike back.

The stolen adult tricycle belonging to Ruag MacKay, the 47-year-old developmentally disabled St. Paul man known all around his North End neighborhood for his good deeds, was found Friday morning and returned to its rightful owner in a high-energy, rain-dampened reunion.

Ruage -- a nickname pronounced "Rugy" -- discovered Monday that the red trike that he depends on for transportation had been stolen from the back yard of the home he shares with his sister.

Two St. Paul Fire Department maintenance employees found the trike about 8 a.m. Friday abandoned on a boulevard near Beaumont and Edgerton Streets on the city's East Side, said police spokesman Sgt. Paul Schnell. By land, that's about 3 miles from Ruage's home on Jessamine Avenue.

The trike was put on a trailer and returned to Ruage shortly after noon Friday. The seat was bent and the headlight missing.

But as soon as the trailer's gate was lowered in front of the house, Ruage climbed in. And after the trike was rolled out, Ruage jumped on and pedaled to the corner.

"Hey, you coming back, mister?" Ruage's sister, Bonnie Jean MacKay, yelled.

Ruage doubled back, but it wasn't long before he took off again, spinning two laps around the block.

Schnell said that police Thursday night spoke with a "person of interest" in the case, someone who lives in the neighborhood. However, there have been no arrests. A motive for the theft has not been determined.

Ruage's story, Schnell said, illustrates "what community is all about," as the theft attracted more than 100 calls to authorities with either tips about the crime or offers to help replace the trike. Officers in the Central District chipped in for a new headlight.

The trike was returned less than 24 hours after friends, neighbors and police mobilized to get the word out through fliers and the news media.

After his two quick spins around the block Friday, Ruage said that he was happy to be riding again.

And was the trike still fast?

"Fast!" he replied.

His sister, asked if Ruage might have embraced a new trike, said in the wake of the TriStar's return: "I think he wants the old one."

alonetree@startribune.com • 612-673-4109 pwalsh@startribune.com • 612-673-4482

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