10 'Hot' Harley-Davidsons recovered in Central Falls

[totalmotorcycle]

10 'Hot' Harley-Davidsons recovered in Central Falls
Friday, November 17, 2006 - By: Kevin O'Connor, Times staff writer - Pawtucket Times - zwire.com




PAWTUCKET - The Harleys are headed back home.

Ten stolen Harley Davidson motorcycles, some heavily customized, all of them obvious objects of love, were found in a storage space at Storage America, 558 Roosevelt Ave., Central Falls, on Wednesday.

Police say they hope this is the first step in breaking open the mystery of Harley Davidsons that have been disappearing all over New England.

Detectives with Pawtucket and Central Falls went into a storage space rented by a Pawtucket man who is now in the ACI on another charge following an investigation that began Friday with the theft of a Harley from the Hose Company on Central Avenue.

Four Harley riders went to the Hose Company Friday. The Harley riders were there for mere minutes when they heard a Harley start up in the parking lot.

They told police they ran out in time to see a stranger riding off on one of the bikes. When they jumped on the three remaining bikes to chase the thief, they discovered that the ignition wires had been pulled loose so the bike couldn't be started.

That theft caught the attention of Detective Robert Tefft, himself a Harley rider.

"He noticed that this was the third or fourth Harley stolen in Darlington in the past few weeks," Detective Major John Whiting said. "We looked into it and Detective Kevin Santurri picked up the case."

Detectives in Pawtucket spent the weekend visiting biker bars while Santurri and Detective Sgt. Roberto DaSilva enlisted Michael Carpenter, an investigator with the National Insurance Crime Bureau, to start the paper chase.

Regionally there is an escalating trend of motorcycle thefts, especially Harley Davidsons. Locally, riders say they heard lots of rumors about one man paying cash for stolen Harleys.

"We got a lot of information about one suspect and we determined he had a storage space in Central Falls," Whiting said. "We applied for and received a search warrant. When we went in, we found the 10 Harleys."

The bikes were taken from the storage facility and loaded into the Central Falls Police garage on Thursday. They range from a stock Sportster to high end Fatboys with all the extras. Police also recovered a heavily customized Harley chopper with racing tires and a custom paint job showing flames spreading back across the gas tank and fenders.

All the bikes have highly polished chrome, detailed tires and flawless paint. Most have extras, such as custom embossed leather seats, grip heaters and saddle bags that match the color scheme on the bike.
Four of the motorcycles were taken from Pawtucket.The rest were from Providence, Woonsocket and Attleboro, all over the past month, Whiting said.

No charges have been filed. The case remains under investigation in Central Falls, Detective Maj. Clay Choquette said.

Whiting said police today would notify the owners of the Harleys that the motorcycles have been located.