CHP takes down three motorcycle theft rings; 51 arrested

A two-year investigation by the California Highway Patrol led to the seizure of nearly $1 million in stolen motorcycles and parts and 51 arrests across Los Angeles County, officials announced Wednesday.

“We’ve taken down the majority of the main players” within L.A. County’s three main motorcycle theft rings, said CHP Southern Division Chief Dan Bower.

The thieves were professionals who could swipe the bikes in seconds, he said. Often times, they simply lifted them onto pickup trucks and hauled them away.

Officials said the network spread to all edges of the county, at times extending beyond to the Inland Empire.

Standing in front of rows of “chopped up” bikes Wednesday — with detached engines, wheels and plastic bodies assembled on wooden pallets — CHP investigators outlined how the probe, dubbed “Operation Wheel Spin,” evolved over a two-year span.

Until now, the CHP had investigated motorcycle thefts through a more narrow scope, said the operation’s lead investigator, Lt. Charlie Sampson.

Once they decided to take a larger view of the thefts, investigators were surprised by “how much was out there on social media,” he said.

Compared with 10 years ago, when customers had to know a shop or yard that carried certain parts, “now you can just sit at home on your computer and go, ‘I need a fuel tank. I need an engine part,’ and you go on the Internet and buy it,” Sampson said.

Investigators said the deeper they dug — including inserting undercover officers into the crime rings — the more extensive the network turned out to be.

Though only 51 people have been arrested over the last two years, the probe has led to ancillary investigations by authorities in San Diego County and Las Vegas, where bikes were shipped and sold, Bower said. Some of the suspects taken into custody during the probe were also involved in other organized crime, such as burglary, robbery and identity theft, he added.

Authorities have filed more than 100 criminal complaints in California and recovered nearly 140 stolen motorcycles and bike parts worth $848,140, officials said.

The lure with sports motorcycles is in their plastic bodies, not in their parts, Sampson said.

The metal components of a bike — it’s engine, gears and the like — have serial numbers that are easily traceable and pose too great a risk for criminals to resell. The thieves in the crime ring usually sold the metal components as scrap but posted the plastic bodies for sale on social media sites like Facebook, Craigslist and eBay.

The two most targeted bikes — Suzukis and Yamahas — were also the most popular commercially. A legitimate plastic motorcycle body that sports the Suzuki or Yamaha brand name might sell for $2,500 online, but a stolen one could be priced somewhere between $500 and $800, officials said.

“If it’s too good to be true ....” Bower said.

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joseph.serna@latimes.com

Twitter: @josephserna