Saturday, April 24, 2010

Harley Davidson 'chop shop' in Damascus

Off the Wire
News
DAMASCUS, Ore. – Parts from several expensive Harley Davidson motorcycles that had recently been stolen in the Portland Metro area were identified by police searching a barn in Damascus Tuesday.

Detective Gil Millett, with the Clackamas County Sheriff’s office, said the Harley Davidson “chop shop” was located on SE Foster Road and he uncovered it with the help of a Good Samaritan.

Millett said a woman discovered a number of suspicious-looking motorcycles in a pole barn on her father’s property and alerted police.

When Millett began investigating, he was able to identify three motorcycles that had been stolen during separate residential burglaries last March and a fourth that was stolen from a Gresham business.

“In addition to this large assortment of expensive and coveted motorcycles recovered at the scene, Detective Millet discovered a stolen enclosed trailer most probably utilized by the suspect to transport these stolen motorcycles,” said detective Jim Strovink with the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office.

Strovink said the trailer had been stolen from the Hood View Church in Boring.

Evidence in the case led investigators to suspect LaDray Dean Forks, 31, who also sometimes goes by the name “Bobby,” according to Strovink. Forks was arrested Tuesday and booked in the Clackamas County Jail.

original article