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John Hollenhorst ReportingPolice in Draper are hoping a surveillance video will help identify two men who apparently stole two of the hottest motorcycles on the market today. They're still scratching their heads over the strange way this crime unfolded.
At the KIXX 66 store Monday morning, Leslie Anderson was making her routine checks out back. She found a brand new motorcycle and helmet surrounded by spilled oil. She took the helmet inside and called the cops. Just then a man entered the store and bought four quarts of oil.
Another man, with very long blond hair, retrieved the helmet. They left and apparently took the motorcycle with them just before police arrived.
Sgt. Gerry Allred, Draper Police Dept: "Just unfortunately we passed the bad guys as we were getting there. But we think we can get them now."
The bike was stolen 24 hours earlier from Access Motorsports. It's a red Suzuki 1000, said to be the fastest bike around. It was the second one stolen from an outdoor storage area in the last few weeks.
Sgt. Gerry Allred: "These thieves are going through a fence, assembling the bikes, and then driving them through a hole in the fence they've made. So this is the second time they've done the same thing."
Once they were there amongst all the boxed-up bikes and opened up one of the crates. They actually went right inside and assembled the bike inside the crate. With barely enough room for the bike to stand up, crouching crooks did a job that takes experts several hours.
Bryan Green, Access Motorsports: "They would have had to put the front tire on, charge the battery, fill the battery with acid. There's quite a few things they would have had to have known how to do."
Pretty smart thieves, except they ran out of oil a few blocks away at the KIXX 66.
Sgt. Gerry Allred: "Our guess is they didn't assemble it properly and it was leaking early."
To compound their error, they came back for the bike 24 hours later, only to be captured on video.