Bell County Motoworks is one of multiple victims of a forgery incident involving fake cashier’s checks where the suspect allegedly stole banking information.
TEMPLE, Texas — A Central Texas motorcycle dealer is no longer out $23,000 after receiving a forged and fraudulent check for a Harley Davidson.
The suspect who is accused of committing the crime is also now in jail.
Bell County Motoworks in Temple is one of multiple victims of a forgery incident involving fake cashier’s checks where the suspect allegedly stole banking information from another business in town to make the purchase.
The motorcycle dealer’s General Manager Eric Hermanson said he’s happy to have the motorcycle back, but for him case isn’t closed.
“One thing I cannot stand is a liar and a thief and he’s both, so him doing it to our shop — I’m still upset about it,” Hermanson added. “He’s done it to a couple of the businesses of people that I know, so it needs to be stopped.”
Hermanson immediately marked the motorcycle tags as stolen as soon as he realized what the dealership has fallen victim to.
After 6 News’ original story on the crime aired, Hermanson said he received multiple calls about the location of the motorcycle and finally after a week, the motorcycle was spotted in Temple.
The new owner described the check fraud suspect as the seller, according to Hermanson.
“(I) Verified the VIN number to make sure it is our motorcycle, and I looked at him and said ‘well, I’m sorry, but this is not your motorcycle,'” Hermanson recalled the moment of Oct. 23. “‘This motorcycle has been stolen from us.'”
Apparently, a VIN search had some convinced that the motorcycle was legit and there was no crime attached to it.
Hermanson believes there’s a flaw in the system that makes the motor vehicle industry more susceptible to fraud and that Texas needs to make some changes.
“It’s a bit flawed when somebody is out committing these types of crimes and stealing vehicles and they’ve got a temporary tag, there’s proof that it’s their vehicle and if they get somebody to buy the story,” Hermanson explained.
The VIN search on the Harley Davidson Street Glide Special showed the tag status to be “voided.”
“It should be labeled as stolen that way the next person that pulls the VIN check it’s reported as stolen and that would stop a lot of fraud,” Hermanson said.
He also wants Central Texans to be vigilant and ask for VIN searches when purchasing any motor vehicles on the street.
“If you run this check and you feel like something is not correct, contact the dealer and they will tell you if it’s a clear deal or not,” Hermanson said.
6 News isn’t releasing the name of the man that was taken into custody since authorities are continuing to investigate the incident, but we do know that he has been booked into the Bell County Jail on a Blue Warrant, meaning he is a parolee suspected of violating the terms of his parole.
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