All but 3 motorcycles stolen from shipper recovered
A van that held nearly a dozen motorcycles and the truck that hauled them was found in Davie Friday, less than a day after being stolen in Dania Beach.
With their Chevrolet Silverado gone, theft victims Christopher Champagne and his wife Crystal of Ship Bikes Right in California were about to board a plane for home Friday when they got the good news that most of the cargo and their rigs worth more than $73,000 were recovered.
“I’m ecstatic right now,” Christopher Champagne said. “We’re gonna go get it.”
Florida residents who purchased bikes from dealers or websites in the Golden State used Ship Bikes Right to deliver them east.
The door-to-door service hauls motorcycles back to California, too, a trip that Champagne said they make about every three weeks for the family-owned business.
On Thursday at about 1:15 a.m., Champagne had checked on his Silverado diesel pickup and its 24-foot trailer that the sheriff’s office said held nine motorcycles and a Vespa scooter that were parked behind the Best Western hotel at 1900 Stirling Rd
Hotel video showed a white SUV cruise the hotel parking lot and leave at about 2:25 a.m. It returned 25 minutes later, when Champagne’s truck and van were driven away, according to a Broward Sheriff deputy’s report.
But the stolen bikes didn’t go far. They were found about 12 miles away Thursday night, parked along the 1500 block of South Hiatus Road outside of the gated Harmony Lakes community.
“A passerby noticed it with the motorcycles in the bed of the truck at the side of the road,” Davie Police Capt. Dale Engle said Friday. “We surveilled the truck to see if the thieves returned.”
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