Sean Longoria
redding.com
Criminal charges were dropped today against a Redding motorcycle shop owner arrested last year on suspicion of running a chop shop for an outlaw motorcycle gang, according to the Shasta County District Attorney’s Office.
Deputy District Attorney Craig Omura said he couldn’t prove that Gary Kenerson, 62, knew the motorcycle parts found May 2010 at his California shop were stolen, which would have been necessary for a conviction.
Kenerson, who owns Gary’s Motorcycle Services Center, was arrested a year ago by Redding police on drug- and theft-related charges. A Shasta County judge dropped the drug charges early last year, according to electronic court records.
“I’m just glad it’s over with,” Kenerson said Monday. “I was innocent from the start and I’m innocent through the end.”
Redding police and CHP investigators have said the searches were a routine business inspection on the bike shop to look for stolen motorcycles and parts.
CHP officers said they had suspected Kenerson of being an associate of the Vagos motorcycle gang.
Vagos members often are seen at the shop and the gang’s black and green colors adorn the shop’s sign and the colors on Kenerson’s employee uniforms, officers said at the time.
An affidavit requesting the 2010 search describes Vagos as “an outlaw motorcycle street gang” whose members were implicated in 2009 in the attempted murder of police officers in Riverside County.
Kenerson has said that he was a Vago decades ago but that his only dealings with club members now are repairing their bikes.
“To me, it was a witch hunt for other people and they were going through me to get to them,” Kenerson said of the investigation and his arrest.
Kenerson has said in the 13 years he’s run the business, he’s abided by the law, and he’s adamant he’s not running a chop shop.
The ordeal has cost Kenerson legal fees and the business of people who didn’t want to bring their bikes into his shop after the arrest, he said.
“I couldn’t pinpoint it, but I’d say in the thousands (of dollars) in lost business,” Kenerson said.
Deputy District Attorney Craig Omura said he couldn’t prove that Gary Kenerson, 62, knew the motorcycle parts found May 2010 at his California shop were stolen, which would have been necessary for a conviction.
Kenerson, who owns Gary’s Motorcycle Services Center, was arrested a year ago by Redding police on drug- and theft-related charges. A Shasta County judge dropped the drug charges early last year, according to electronic court records.
His arrest came some eight months after California Highway Patrol investigators and members of the Redding Police Department served a search warrant on Kenerson’s shop and his girlfriend’s Palo Cedro home.
Officers seized a number of motorcycle parts they said were stolen and a switchblade knife from the store. A .22-caliber rifle, a .22-caliber pistol, a baggie with trace amounts of methamphetamine and two bottles of pain pills were seized from the home, according to search warrant returns.“I’m just glad it’s over with,” Kenerson said Monday. “I was innocent from the start and I’m innocent through the end.”
Redding police and CHP investigators have said the searches were a routine business inspection on the bike shop to look for stolen motorcycles and parts.
CHP officers said they had suspected Kenerson of being an associate of the Vagos motorcycle gang.
Vagos members often are seen at the shop and the gang’s black and green colors adorn the shop’s sign and the colors on Kenerson’s employee uniforms, officers said at the time.
An affidavit requesting the 2010 search describes Vagos as “an outlaw motorcycle street gang” whose members were implicated in 2009 in the attempted murder of police officers in Riverside County.
Kenerson has said that he was a Vago decades ago but that his only dealings with club members now are repairing their bikes.
“To me, it was a witch hunt for other people and they were going through me to get to them,” Kenerson said of the investigation and his arrest.
Kenerson has said in the 13 years he’s run the business, he’s abided by the law, and he’s adamant he’s not running a chop shop.
The ordeal has cost Kenerson legal fees and the business of people who didn’t want to bring their bikes into his shop after the arrest, he said.
“I couldn’t pinpoint it, but I’d say in the thousands (of dollars) in lost business,” Kenerson said.