The National Post: Igor Kenk out of jail after less than 2 years
Megan O’Toole, National Post
Published: Tuesday, March 09, 2010
After serving less than two years of hard time, bike thief Igor Kenk is readjusting to life as a free man.
His wife, classical pianist Jeanie Chung, answered the door at the couple’s Yorkville home, but declined to speak about Kenk’s ordeal.
“Right now we’re just asking for our privacy,” she explained from the doorway of their bright two-storey house, trimmed with forest-green accents.
Kenk, 50, became one of the city’s most notorious figures after a massive police sting in the summer of 2008 uncovered thousands of stolen bicycles in his Queen Street West bike shop and a network of rented garages and warehouses throughout the city.
Residents who suspected Kenk had been operating a downtown bike-theft ring cheered his arrest, and hundreds were able to reclaim their bicycles.
Late last year, Kenk agreed to a plea bargain that resulted in a 30-month prison term for a selection of drug charges and possession of stolen property. He was released from the Don Jail on Friday.
Yvonne Bambrick of the Toronto Cyclists Union said cyclists are concerned he is already free, given the magnitude of his operation.
“The Don Jail is not a great place, but it seems like he got off fairly easy in the grand scheme of the impact he had on so many people,” she said, noting many people wish he had his day in court “in a way that reflected the real issue, which is that he was perpetuating bike theft in Toronto.”
