Stolen Mini Bike Lonestar Roundup

So back at the 2012 Lone Star Roundup my mini bike was stolen out of the back of the truck. The truck was parked a couple feet from the Valet station at the Sheraton downtown. I called Austin PD to come take a report, they told me to just file an online report. I did, figuring it would never see the light of a computer screen or desk again. I went home dejected because it technically belonged to my eight year old, but had seen many years racing Boob, Franz, and other friends at the Roundup.

So Thursday I headed to the Pate Swap meet outside of Fort Worth, Texas. I got up early Friday with my good friend Sheldon Weinzettle aka Wino01 and walked the entire meet the first day, which if you have been there before, you know it takes all day. That night our friends had a fish fry inside the meet for anyone that wanted to stop by. Ran into Brokenspoke and a few others from the Hamb world. Thanks to JD for all the good food!! After eating, I jumped on a friends trail 70 and took a little spin around the meet. At the end of the meet a couple guys had about ten mini bikes for sale. As I am strangely drawn to mini bikes, I pulled over to look at them. The first bike had a really custom paint job, just like my old bike....oh hell, that's it!!! Found my Bike... Panic mode now sets in...How do I get it back? I just drive off smiling, don't want to show my hand yet.

I head straight to one of the event coordinators, he tells me where the security is located, security tells me what motor home the police are camped out in. I find motor home, beat on door. Officer answers, I drag through the story of the long lost mini. He pauses, and asks..are you sure its your?? Do you have a police report and pictures with you? Errrr, no...now on the phone with wife, she sends pictures of the paint and air brush work on the engine and frame. Plus video and pictures of the racing in the roundup. I call Austin PD about the online report I filed. No help at all, they state I have to submit in writing for it or show up in person. Damn Damn Damn, officer says " Look, get everything together you have and meet me at 7:30 in the morning."

So I head back to hotel, 11:45 pm, fall asleep..alarm goes off at 5:45 am..start taking shower, cell phone rings at about six, officer says "where are you???? We are ready," ok....what happened to 7:30...ready for what?? Get in truck and haul ass to swap meet, pull up to officers trailer and there are four people standing there, including the County Sheriff himself. They go through my pictures and videos, then the sheriff calls Austin PD and they find my report! Much more helpful for him than me!! The sheriff then tells me, we got two guys watching the booth since daylight, the booth owners just got there so we are sending in an undercover to video and record him talking to them about the buying the bike and stuff.....I am stunned??? Six police officers, two undercover guys, sheriff, for a stolen mini bike.

Sheriff sends all the guys ahead, tells me and Wino01 to get in the golf cart. We ride over to the booth location, but stay about five rows over. He says when my undercover takes his hat off we are going in and taking the bike and the booth owners. He looks over at me and says "Stay Calm!" I am thinking "Eight armed guys after two swap meet guys, should not be a problem for me." We hang around for five minutes or so, then he gets the signal so we ride in for the take down...HaHAHA had to say that...More like we ride in for a discussion.

Officers tell the three guys that have the booth they are in possession of stolen goods. The guys immediately give up another swap meet vendor at the show that they traded with for the bike. We all then load up in three golf carts and three mini bikes, and ride around the meet for thirty minutes until we find the other vendor. The now fourth suspect is about 65 years old, and looks innocent as a 6 year old. The three prior suspects are now pissed at the guy they got the bike from, knowing they are going to lose their bike and money they paid for it. He is now being interrogated by six officers, one under cover agent, a sheriff, and three mad mini bike vendors. Me and Wino01 are staying calm.

The new suspects states he bought the bike from a flea market in San Antonio, although he did have an Austin address...whatever..I still don't think any of these guys stole the bike. I believe they just bought stolen merchandise. Sheriff gives everybody the bad news, that he is confiscating the mini bike. He loads it on back his golf cart, takes all the suspects drivers licenses..and we drive off to the security station.

When we get back he looks over at me and says "Can you prove for sure this is your bike? I say "look on the police report, there is a series of letters I listed on the last page. He looks it up and finds the letters. I showed him a place on the bike and said "rub the paint off right here and you can find those letters." He said I got a better way, he took some graphite dust from a pencil and rubbed it over the paint. The letters popped up immediately...cool trick! Did not even scratch the paint! He then says "Take your bike home, I will handle the paperwork. I hate a damn thief!!

Was amazed at the whole process, when I started I thought no one would take me seriously. These guys did not screw around, they were all over it like I had lost a million bucks. They were all long time Pate swap meet guys, and come to find out everyone of them had some type of old hot rod. Their final message was don't screw with the Pate Swap meet, or the good people that are involved! A big thank you to the Sheriff's Department, you made a Hamber and his daughter very happy.

 

That's an amazing story of police dilligence! Doesn't seem to happen very often anymore.

 

Great story

 

Very cool! Glad to hear you finally got the mini bike back.

 

Wow, what an amazing chain of events!!

Usually, when something like a minibike, motorcycle, or bicycle gets stolen, it's gone forever. They usually get parted out within hours of the theft and you never see them again. You are one of the fortunate few, and if you consider the odds of being in the right place at the right time, having security guys who actually wanted to help, and cops who went the extra mile for a simple minibike, you are a lucky guy.

What a great ending! Now, go lock that rascal up!!

 

Cool.

 

Cool to see one of these stories end well! They probably also like to get the word out that they don't want thiefs hocking their goods at their meet!

 

Great job by you and the local police dept.Alls well that ends well!

 

Nice one

 

I remember when it got stolen. Great ending!

 

Nice to see a "happy ending" !!!!

 

Amazing,,you got your mini bike back,,now if they can find the 32 sedan that was stolen recently. HRP

 

Great story,happy ending.

 

Awesome!!! I remember reading about your bike getting stolen. It had a sweet paint job, blue with flames right?

 

It was a good weekend at Pate this year.We found some good deals, recovered a stolen mini bike and met some great people. A big hell yea goes out to the Sheriff's Office working the Pate Swap meet. Theses guys were on the ball. They all have cool hot rods and if you don't think they are there for you, think again.


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What a great story and amazing outcome. My most respectful "thank you" to the people that helped you with this.

It reminds me of when my 8 y.o. son's bicycle was stolen. It was an expensive bike, like over $500. A year later one of his buddies sees another kid riding a bike and says "isn't that your bike" so he runs to follow the kid while my son and his other buddy run to the police station. The bike follower tells the kid that the bike belongs to my son and they're now at the police station and for fear of worse trouble the kid agrees to ride back to the station. By now they called me and I show up with the original purchase receipt which has the serial numbers on it that match those stamped on the frame, so we immediately got the bike back. It turns out the kid who had the bike bought it from another kid who ended up being the culprit. One lesson I learned: in spite of what my wife says, never throw away a piece of paper with information on it.

 

Justice is cool, when it works in your favor. Regardless of the crap people talk about cops, when the chips are down, who's the first ones to get called?

 

That is a great ending to a crappy situation. Hope it makes up for the sick feeling you get when you have been ripped off. Been there. Best of luck

 

Just like a made for TV movie. I wish all the stolen stuff could be found and returned to the rightful owners. Like I said 'I wish'. Count yourself one of the chosen few. You got lucky. Buy yourself a big-ass chain and lock for the bike. And, use this as a teaching lesson for your kids. We have to pass on our knowledge about how to survive in the jungle. Oh yeah, some cops are people, too; we all know some not so much. Gotta give those few who care credit where credit is due.

 

Man just when you think all is going to crap, you read a story like this on the HAMB and it restores your faith that the system works, if you have good people. Great you got, or your boy, the mini-bike back and hats off to that police work!

 

Sweet! storys usually don't end like this.

 

No helicopters?

That's intense
Congrats !

 

congrats on getting what was yours back! Hope to hear more stories like this one in the future

 

God bless the usa...

 

Glad to hear of a happy ending. Unfortunately, most recovered vehicles are because of tips from citizens or the vehicle is equipped with a theft recovery system. It was 10 am and a citizen called in and saw her neighbor swapping license plates. I responded to a 4-plex and saw the described car, but being a 4-plex, I didn't know who owned it. Then I heard a "psst, "psst, coming from a window I was standing next to. The citizen said it was the house across from me and the guy was wearing a blue striped shirt.

I knocked on that door and a lady answered. I told her I needed to speak to her husband. She called him and he came out, striped blue shirt and all. I pointed out the car and asked if it was his. He saw yes and produced a key. A brand new key! I looked at the vin on the dash but it was covered by tissue paper. I took the new key and opened the driver's door and saw the federal sticker had been removed. I removed the tiisue from the dash vin and ran the numbers. The car had been stolen that morning from Santa Maria at 6:30 that morning. I searched the suspect and found the federal sticker wadded up in his pocket. The suspect had swapped the California License Plate for a Mexico License Plate.

There was another car, parked next to the stolen car, with Mexican License Plates too. It too was stolen. A search of the suspects house, I recovered a key making machine.

2 stolen cars and 6 felony counts, the D.A. cut a deal for 1 count of receiving stolen property and he only got 18 months.

Another time in South Central, we received a Lo-Jack hit coming from a house. The Detectives watched the house all night. At 1 am, a car drove down the alley. The residents of the house lifted up the back fence and the whole rear side of the house opened. The car drove inside the house and the wall closed. The fence was put back in place. This allowed the detectives to get a search warrant. The hous had been gutted and turned into a "chop shop".

 

Write a thank you letter to the police chief and the Swap
Meet organizers. Include a link to this thread and tell them how many HAMB members truly appreciate this exceptional police work.

PS: Huge congrats and post a photo....another piece of documentation JUST in case!

 

Shazam! Wow, I wish to hell I was typing up this story and my model A pickup had been found...been gone since 2005.
Congrats!

 

Nice to hear a good ending for a change. congrats!

 

A buddy of mine borrowed his neighbors open car trailer one time to haul his Nova to Muncie Dragway. As he pulls into a pit spot and starts to get out to unload his car the trailers true owner walked up and confronted him. His neighbor had bought it from a guy at a smokin' deal and didn't know it was stolen......I guess. At least the guy got his trailer back.

 

Wow! What a story. Glad you got the bike back.