Fitchburg man uses chicanery to allegedly steal dirt bike

FITCHBURG » Believing he had just sold his dirt bike to a city man for $1,300, the victim soon learned the payment made through a PayPal account was canceled within minutes of the thief leaving with the bike, according to police and court documents.

Police were alerted on June 10 by a 19year-old that his dirt bike had been stolen by Cody Herold, 23, of 216 Marshall St., a week earlier, police said.

The victim told the investigating officer he was selling his dirt bike on a social media and was contacted by Herold.

The victim was going to use a function on the site he was using to advertise the dirt bike for payment, the officer reported.

When Herold contacted the victim, he suggested using PayPal to avoid any unnecessary fees and had him create a PayPal account to get paid for the dirt bike, the officer reported.

Herold show up, supposedly with his brother, at the home of a family member of the victim to check out the bike, riding it around for about 30 minutes, the victim told the officer.

At that point, Herold, the victim thought, paid for the dirt bike through the PayPal account the victim had created for the transaction, the officer reported.

Herold then put the bike in a red van and drove away and as he was leaving, the victim found the payment transaction had been canceled, the officer reported.

The victim contacted PayPal, which confirmed the payment had been canceled, the officer reported.

On Tuesday, Herold, who pleaded not guilty, was arraigned on a single charge of larceny of a motor vehicle and released on personal recognizance and ordered to return to court on Dec. 17.

The report did not indicate if the victim’s dirt bike was recovered or returned.