OC deputies seeking bike owners after more than 1,000 found in homeless encampment

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- Orange County sheriff's deputies are looking to reunite owners with their stolen bicycles after a cache of bikes was found in a homeless encampment near the Santa Ana River trail in Fountain Valley.

MORE: 1,000 bikes, loaded gun among findings at Orange County homeless encampment

Deputies are currently processing the bikes and parts and said the majority of those recovered are likely beyond repair after being stripped for parts or damaged.

Authorities are encouraging anyone who may have had a bike stolen to send a description of their bicycle along with its serial number and a police report number to lostbike@ocsd.org.

Deputies said they do not have an estimate on how many bikes they will be able to salvage.

Public Works employees dragged out a pile of bicycles hidden inside a tunnel on the Santa Ana River trail. They were just some of the nearly 1,000 bikes they found while cleaning the recently dismantled homeless encampment.

On Nov. 10, Public Works began shutting down a 6-mile stretch of the river trail in Fountain Valley for cleanup and maintenance.