Most stolen motorcycles end up being resold as parts
Hampton and Newport News police say bikes are easy targets for theft and the recovery rate is low.
BY DAVID CHERNICKY
247-4743
Published August 19, 2005
Charles Gilbert still makes his monthly payments on the 2005 Suzuki motorcycle he bought April 28, even though he hasn't ridden it all summer, nor will he in the future.
Two weeks after the purchase, a friend called Gilbert in New York, telling him the bike was gone. "At first he asked if I missed a payment, thinking it had been repossessed," the Hampton University journalism major said.
Gilbert's motorcycle was one of three stolen from a gated apartment complex on Marcella Road that night. He learned of the bike's fate Thursday. A Newport News detective notified him the Suzuki was found stripped in woods near Mary Immaculate Hospital.
Until recently, Hampton and Newport News police had little success in recovering stolen motorcycles. Last week, Hampton detectives raided a motorcycle shop suspected of fencing stolen motorcycles. Police recovered a stolen motorcycle and charged manager Joe Phillips Jr., 27, with possession of stolen property, knowingly possessing a vehicle with an altered identification number and obtaining money by false pretenses, said Hampton Detective Cpl. Karen Shuler, who prepared the search warrant.
The investigation that led Shuler to Godzilla's Motorsports on West Pembroke Avenue started about 2 a.m. Aug. 12 when a patrol officer stopped a man on a 2002 Suzuki that didn't have a license plate. The officer checked the motorcycle's vehicle identification number, or VIN, against a computer database and found it matched one that had been stolen from an apartment complex Dec. 22, 2004, according to the search warrant.
The operator of the Suzuki, Sedrick T. Weathers of Newport News, told investigators he got the bike at Godzilla Motorsports. Police charged Weathers with possession of stolen property, a felony.
On Tuesday, Newport News detectives and a state police agent recovered two Japanese-made motorcycles in a search of Dice Auto, a motorcycle repair shop on Jefferson Avenue. One of the motorcycles was a 2002 Honda that had been stolen from a housing complex adjacent to the Naval Station Norfolk, Detective Lloyd Legrande said Thursday.
Newport News police had not filed charges, but Legrande said it was early in the investigation.
This year, Newport News had 30 motorcycle thefts through Aug. 17 and six recoveries, compared to 37 thefts and eight recoveries for all of 2004, Officer Harold Eley, a police spokesman said.
"We had about 20 motorcycles stolen the first three months of 2005," Legrande said. While the number of thefts has since decreased, he's noticed a slight jump in recoveries.
In Hampton, an eight-month comparison showed motorcycle thefts fell from 19 last year to eight.
"Our recovery rate had been pretty slim until recently," Shuler said.
So far, police have found no evidence of an organized theft ring or motorcycle fencing operation.
Detectives believe many stolen Kawasakis, Hondas, and Suzukis are stripped and their parts sold. "The only parts that have an identification number are the engine and neck or fork,"Shuler said. "None of the other parts can be traced. You can get on eBay and buy anything you want, even the frames."
Legrande says motorcycles make easy targets because they can be carried away in a van or pickup truck and concealed. He suggests owners anchor them with a heavy chain.
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