3 men charged in Henrico cycle thefts/VA

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3 men charged in Henrico cycle thefts

BY MARK BOWES
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Oct 20, 2005


RELATED: Police Beat

Police believe they have broken up a motorcycle-theft ring responsible for stealing at least 30 Japanese-made speed bikes since 2003 in apartment complexes in western Henrico County.

Investigators charged three men last week. Two of the suspects live in New Jersey, near where police recovered several of the motorcycles.

Henrico investigators are working with other local police agencies to determine whether the ring operated throughout metro Richmond, said Lt. Doug Perry, Henrico police spokesman.

He said that during the past two years, the thieves would target apartment complexes off West Broad Street in western Henrico. The thieves would use stolen minivans to facilitate their crimes.

"They'd steal a minivan, take the seats out of it, and then load one or two motorcycles from the apartment complex in the minivan," Perry said. "And they take the motorcycles and dispose of them, and then just dump the minivan, which we'd find later somewhere else."

The thieves preferred Japanese-style speed bikes. "They were looking for these hopped-up speed bikes that they could sell," Perry said.

Several of the stolen motorcycles have been recovered in the New York area.

Police charged Terell Kareem Taylor, 21, of the 900 block of Wheelwood Way in eastern Henrico with three counts of grand larceny and one count each of conspiracy to commit grand larceny and possession of burglary tools.

Also charged were Kareem Ali Tillery, 20, and Qasim Tillery, 25, both of Newark, N.J. They were charged with four counts of grand larceny and one count of conspiracy to commit theft. Police are looking for a fourth suspect.

Perry said the New Jersey suspects lived with Taylor during the time of the Henrico thefts.

All three men were being held without bond in the county jail pending their appearance Nov. 15 in Henrico General District Court.