Motorcycle theft, B&E

[Twist]

A friend here in Annapolis had his three dirt bikes stolen from his garage on Sunday night. They smashed out a garage window and because the garage door was key locked, they derailed the door and made off with a KTM 150, a TTR110, and a KTM 250SX. The police where called and they determined that the thieves took the bike down behind their home, across a golf course to a waiting van and drove off with them from there. There's some video from neighboring homes and some neighbors reported hearing "a chainsaw running outside their home at 3am." The bikes were so brazenly stolen from an upscale neighborhood (South River Colony near Annapolis) from a million dollar+ home that also had a Porsche 911 GTS and a bunch of expensive riding gear in the garage and none of that was touched.

The police said that there is someone doing this that has gotten away with it several times over the last several months. They think they watch for anyone hauling dirt bikes on a trailer or in their truck and follow them to find out where they live and plan the robbery from that knowledge. They had one report that said they thought someone scoped them out where they were riding and followed them home from there to find out where the bikes would be stored. In each case the bikes were stolen just a few days after they had been riding and shuttled the bikes back and forth. I'm told the police got fingerprints and video from a number of security cameras and have a description and if I find out more I'll pass it along.

I thought you guys should know that there's someone who is active and willing to break into a home garage to steal motorcycles even while the people were home.

[Joker]

My neighbor had his stolen Friday night. The dumbass keeps his toys outside, unlocked, in plain view of the street so I am surprised it hasn't happened earlier. But I did text all my neighbors.

This will only stop an honest thief, its cheap and loud as all hell. But it will slow down a dishonest thief long enough to get a rottie suck on them and hot barrel real close to their face.

https://www.amazon.com/YOHOOLYO-Motorcy ... 45&sr=8-20

[Twist]

The police now have a bunch of video from surrounding homes and it shows that these guys are pros. They pulled up in a car with no license plates on it and 4 guys jumped out and went straight to the side garage window. They also knew to put something black over the close cameras which apparently defeats it from reporting motion. They had a tool that pulled the window out of the frame and the four guys went in like gymnasts through the window. 4 minutes later they had the garage door hanging off the tracks and were pushing the bikes out. They tracked the knobby tracks that went directly through a couple of yards over to another street where a van was waiting with a ramp. The bikes went in to the van and it was driving away with the ramp loaded before the rear doors were even closed. Everyone wore all black including ski masks but they left prints all over the place. This all happened just before 5am. My friend who saw the video said it looked like a seal team assaulting his house.

So these guys knew exactly what and where they were pulling this off and exactly how. The whole thing took less than 10 minutes. The detective said that pros like these will never list the bikes for sale and that they're likely sold for $100/ea for drugs in Baltimore or on their way to another state to sell the bikes on some local boards.

I was wrong about one of the bikes being a KTM 250SX. He'd gotten ride of that bike recently and it was a '21 CRF450 along with the KTM 150 and a TTR110.

[Bucho]

More reasons to own a van (or enclosed trailer)


Do what you can to make it hard/harder for thieves to steal your stuff.
Have your bikes insured for theft too

[Twist]

More reasons to own a van (or enclosed trailer)


Do what you can to make it hard/harder for thieves to steal your stuff.
Have your bikes insured for theft too

My buddy has found out that dirt bikes are not covered on his home owner's policy. He can get his window and garage door damage covered but not the bikes.

[smdub]

How are dirt bikes not covered on homeowners? Many can't be legally titled. No different than a lawnmower IMO. I'll have to ask my insurance agent about mine...

I do have all the KTMs and Sherco covered on my moto policy but the little TTRs and SurRons are not. SurRons don't have a VIN so not sure that would even be possible to put on a moto policy.

[Twist]

I know some people use Apple AirTags hidden on their bikes thinking it'll allow them to locate them if stolen. I'd been thinking of the same thing. From the detective working this case:

A lot of these rings of organized bike thieves purposely use android phones in case somebody puts an Apple AirTag on the bike. Apple AirTags are proprietary to the Bluetooth encryption on the iPhone. So these people really think this stuff through. Clearly there are other tracking devices for your bike but the Apple AirTag is only $30 and a lot of people take the seat apart and hide them inside the foam on the seat.

They make sure the stolen bikes are nowhere near an iPhone until they're monetized by these crooks. I guess it would still be useful if it was some kid escalating his criminal behavior that snatched my bike. It's cheap to hide one somewhere on the bike.

[Twist]

How are dirt bikes not covered on homeowners? Many can't be legally titled. No different than a lawnmower IMO. I'll have to ask my insurance agent about mine...

I do have all the KTMs and Sherco covered on my moto policy but the little TTRs and SurRons are not. SurRons don't have a VIN so not sure that would even be possible to put on a moto policy.

Stephen, the other thing these gangs are apparently locating and stealing are higher end lawn mowers and tractors. with the prices of late model used cars going out of sight, I'm surprised we don't hear more about car theft. Maybe the security on modern cars is more of a deterrent.

[smdub]

Its harder to flip a complete car. Someone has to register it eventually if they want to use it on the road. Dirt bikes, lawn mowers, jewelry, etc don't have that problem.

[Firebolter]

This is not new to Annapolis regrettably. I had 2 bikes stolen from Eastport out of my locked shed and they broke the gate on my fence so they could get them out of the backyard. That was 10 years ago. It was only due to a neighbor who saw them, reported it quickly and followed them to the nearby neighborhood where they tried to stash them. I got lucky, they were not pros like these guys are.