The story is from http://cbs4denver.com/topstories/loc...121201741.html

(CBS4) DENVER Denver metro area police told CBS4 they think they've put the brakes on what they described as being a one-man crime wave: a motorcycle thief who is suspected of stealing more than 60 Harley Davidson motorcycles worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Since 2004 Denver and Aurora police have recorded dozens of unsolved Harley thefts, according to police documents obtained by the CBS4 Investigates team.

Investigators said they believe a man named Jacob Schooley stole the coveted bikes of dozens of Colorado Harley owners. Schooley, 33, has a 10 year record of arrests for assault, drugs and run-ins with police. But police said they believe his real criminal gift was for stealing Harleys.

"We have reason to believe Schooley was involved in over 60 Harley thefts through the metro area," said Officer Marcus Dudley of the Aurora Police Department.

Michael Earley's 2001 Harley was one that was stolen. The $25,000 custom bike was taken from a Lakewood parking lot even though the ignition was locked, the forks were locked and the security system was on.

"I knew I parked it here, but I thought somebody was playing a joke on me and moved it," Earley said. "It makes you feel sick, really sick inside. It's something special. It's like somebody has a special car, or horse or something like that they really like it really makes you feel bad."

Police used high tech gear to track and eventually arrest Schooley, who would drive around for hours shopping for Harleys to steal, according to police.

Investigators believed simply tailing Schooley was too risky; they thought he would figure out he was being followed. So they figured out another way. Police got a court order to put a secret electronic tracking device on a car Schooley was using.

Harley salesman Tim Hanson said that the device is similar to a GPS system they put on the bikes they sell to help track them if they are stolen.

"It doesn't matter where (the motorcycle) is at," Hanson said. "As long as that signal is on, the police can pick up that signal and track it right to it."

Last June, for 3 hours, investigators electronically tracked Schooley as he drove through Aurora, Thornton, Northglenn and Arvada. Finally, he ended up in an alley in LoDo, where he got out of his electronically bugged car and stole a Harley.

Police are reluctant to discuss the tracking technology they employed, but they say it was crucial.

"We feel it was significant in our being able to catch Schooley in this case," Dudley said.

Investigators arrested Schooley and he pleaded guilty to felony theft. He was sentenced in March to four years in community corrections. Schooley is currently in the Denver County Jail and declined CBS4's request for an interview.

Aurora police say that since Jacob Schooley has been behind bars, Harley thefts in Aurora have dropped 82 percent.

 

Thats fukcin rediculouse that it took that many bikes to be stolen before he got caught.

steve

 

He needs his *** whupped!!! No even better. Put him in a cell with Bubba.

 

So his buddy is still out there getting 18% of the stolen bikes... It is sad that any bikes are being stolen...

 

When I was in the Navy 57-65 I always left my sportys parked on the street by the gate to the base or in the off base parking lot and go on a 2-4 week ASW Cruise, we all did that, no bikes were stolen, I don't remember of hearing to much about bikes being stolen untill the late 70s?? and of course In 79 somebody tried to rip off one of my beloved sportys right out of my garage, he didn't make it, but that is another story..[sm=chairshot.gif]

 

What did they do to horse theives in the old west??

 

They ought to cut that M#####f'ers throat in downtown Denver and let the public watch him bleed to death[sm=shootshoot.gif] and make an example of him! They probably won't do jack s##t to him, though.

 

He needs to be dragged behind a truck through a gravel pit until he's nothing but a nub. [sm=bomb.gif]

 

Four years, that ain't sh*t, for what he did. I thought Grand Theft Auto was supposed to be a big deal. That's not even a month for each Harley he stole. Our system sucks sometimes.

 

hangings