Harley in the Hangar: Chop Shop?

[Pink Panther]

This notion that criminals aren't stupid is incredible to me. Most of them get caught because they are in fact, stupid. Why is it so incredible to think that the guy who might have committed the crime would think to hide the truck he stole in a friggin' trailer on his mom's driveway? Maybe because he was so incredibly naive to think that the neighbours wouldn't notice a trailer there? There is a series of books called the "Darwin Awards"...LOTS of criminals are stupid, arrogant and cocky. I'd hazard a guess, that that is how most are caught.

moo

 

[SnooperDuper]

Pink I agree, there are many crimes that are simple to do (theft, fraud) and you don't have to be smart, just brazen enough to commit the crime.

 

[Pink Panther]

Pink I agree, there are many crimes that are simple to do (theft, fraud) and you don't have to be smart, just brazen enough to commit the crime.

Brazen and stupid go together quite nicely imo.

= crime

 

[Alethea Dice]

I've mentioned it before, but the Harley's trailer was registered as a homemade trailer "within hours" of the trailer/bike theft. If it was anyone's name but DM's on it, I suspect we would have heard of another arrest.

I wish I could believe this, but it seems that we hear nothing new about anything anymore.

JMO

 

[Alethea Dice]

You register a trailer so it is street legal. If the trailer were not registered, it would not have plates, and you couldn't take it out on the street. The Sun says the trailer was worth $7500...I doubt you would spend that much money and not register the thing, leaving it as functional as a box.

Personally, I wouldn't spend $35,000 on a Harley and not make sure it was insured either.

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/05/31/dan-aykroyd-and-his-killer-movie

JMO

 

[bessie]

I have a big problem with the whole chop shop riff, imo. Even a cursory look though linkedins will turn up the names and backgounds of a dozen or more highly qualified aeronautics repair and maintenance personnel and a highly skilled management team in the employ of MillardAir in 2012 and early 2013. I seriously doubt that these people would be jeopardizing their futures in the airline industries by heisting cars. JMO. How that motorbike & trailer materialized in the hangar is anybody's guess at this point, imo. Maybe after police lay charges in the matter we can have a clearer understanding?

And have we not seen photos of vehicles in the hangar, and DM pulling an engine out of an automobile? If the owner and CEO wanted to tinker with his toys, who was going to interfere? Obviously, the chop shop was operating right under the noses of the MA personnel.

 

[SnooperDuper]

Personally, I wouldn't spend $35,000 on a Harley and not make sure it was insured either.

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/05/31/dan-aykroyd-and-his-killer-movie

JMO

From that article, "[H]e had an insurance mess-up and the bike was not covered." Sounds like the owner intended for it to be insured.

 

[CanuckSleuth]

This notion that criminals aren't stupid is incredible to me. Most of them get caught because they are in fact, stupid. Why is it so incredible to think that the guy who might have committed the crime would think to hide the truck he stole in a friggin' trailer on his mom's driveway? Maybe because he was so incredibly naive to think that the neighbours wouldn't notice a trailer there? There is a series of books called the "Darwin Awards"...LOTS of criminals are stupid, arrogant and cocky. I'd hazard a guess, that that is how most are caught.

moo

Many criminals are caught because they made a mistake or mistake(s) not necessarily because they are stupid. I don't believe the words are interchangeable. Just because one made mistakes does not make them "in fact" stupid. JMO

 

[ellie b]

I wish I could believe this, but it seems that we hear nothing new about anything anymore.

JMO

Yes that's true and of course that can be frustrating but I think any evidence will be kept under wraps until the impending(IMO) trial begins. A trial which I believe will be very very interesting.

RIP Tim Bosma.

 

[Juballee]

There are a few things I find disconcerting about the chop shop scheme. First I find it hard to believe that a young man with no known ties to organized crime was running an apparently profitable chop shop out in the open like that. Wasn't there some airport employee in a management position there just a few weeks prior to the police investigation? I don't remember it being mentioned anywhere that he saw anything unusual about the hanger to suggest it was being used as a chop shop. How much notice did he give before his visit, enough time to clear out an entire chop shop? And wouldn't he have noticed a flurry of activity, trailers coming and going in an effort to clear it out between when he announced his intention to visit the hanger (if he did) and his actual visit?

As far as I recall, the photos of DM playing with cars in the hanger were prior to WM's death, is it being suggested that WM knew about this, or that he was somehow oblivious to the happenings in his own hanger? Didn't he have a collection of cars there, surely he would have noticed if they were constantly changing or if there was far more mechanical work being preformed than was necessary to maintain his collection? Could it be that the parts found were bought in a legitimate way but from a dubious source?

When was the Harley stolen, was it before or after WM's death? I have been trying to look it up but all I can find are articles that say 'last fall'. If it was before his death, I can't imagine him not noticing it being stripped for parts and having serial numbers ground off in his own place of business.

I find it odd that the police know whose name the trailer was registered to but don't say if it was DM or not. I would think if it was registered to DM, they would have announced it. It reminds me of the way the incinerator was originally said to have been bought by him, but now it is reported to have been bought by an unnamed employee of Millardair.

I may be wrong, but I am under the belief that the Harley was found in parts in it's own trailer in the hanger. Would it not have been very convenient to just move the trailer with the stolen evidence to another location, say when you were moving another trailer with another stolen vehicle to hide evidence? I say this because if DM moved the trailer with TB's truck to his mother's just to be safe, why wouldn't he also move other incriminating evidence for the same reason? He had how many days between the disappearance and arrest? I think if that was me, I would have spent that time clearing out every piece of stolen machinery out of all my properties. It also seems to me to be convenient for someone to use to frame him; he has no motive to kill a man for a truck, but perhaps if it was made to look like he was running a chop shop, he might look guiltier. How easy would it be to take an already chopped bike sitting in a stolen trailer and drop it off at the hanger in a neat little package, especially if that bike was useless to your OC chop shop because of the hidden VIN?

 

[Archangel7]

The executive would't likely have seen the disassembled Harley inside an enclosed trailer during a walk thru of the hangar. Not even the police know they are stolen until effort is put forth to run serial numbers and VINs.

The Harley was stolen in October of 2012,
(see post #1)http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/straighttalk/archives/2013/05/20130530-065940.html WM obit is mid Dec. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thestar/obituary.aspx?pid=161695472#fbLoggedOut

The police would know who is on the trailer registration and have either already determined culpability or they are continuing to work back from there.

There is a paper trail on how the incinerator was purchased and it had to be verified by the OEM prior to release unless paid for in cash. http://www.supernovamfg.com/faq.html

Also the incinerator delivery conditions will likely reveal at least who, when, and how.
moo

 

[Blomquist]

And have we not seen photos of vehicles in the hangar, and DM pulling an engine out of an automobile? If the owner and CEO wanted to tinker with his toys, who was going to interfere? Obviously, the chop shop was operating right under the noses of the MA personnel.

It does not mean that MA personnel were aware of any illicit business. JMO

 

[Blomquist]

Someone could order anything in anyones name !!!! So long as it was a cash payment (I think even over the counter drafts can be done without an account) no -one would know who actually bought it. There is also another means of payment that does not link back to the purchaser. IMO The reason I say this is because it is not always the case that the one ordering is the one buying....also the one ordering may have used an alias.....or someone elses name..... MOO

 

[Blomquist]

Well it looks like more than a few of us are thinking along similar lines.... phew.... thank you for your theory....

 

[cansleuther]

And have we not seen photos of vehicles in the hangar, and DM pulling an engine out of an automobile?

FWIW those photos were taken at the Pearson hangar, not the Waterloo one. There are not a lot of photos of the inside of the Waterloo hangar available online.

 

[Blomquist]

From that article, "[H]e had an insurance mess-up and the bike was not covered." Sounds like the owner intended for it to be insured.

Do we know how long the owner had the bike? I was of the opinion it had been for some time ! JMO

 

[Juballee]

Thank You Archangel7 for the link to the date that the bike was stolen. I thought it was prior to WM's death, but I have a hard time finding specific articles, or when I do find them, they seem to have been slightly altered. It makes me miss good old newspapers, where once it was in locked into print, there was no changing it; modern media seems very Orwellian to me sometimes. If WM was alive when the Harley was stolen, where was it chopped that it was able to remain hidden from him the entire time? I understand if it was out of sight in a trailer, but how many trailers were there that they wouldn't notice another one? Also, when was AS at the hanger last? Did it look like a chop-shop then or just a place where people were storing their collection of toys?

Are there any photos of DM and motorcycles? We know he liked cars and trucks, but was he also into bikes? Can anyone check if he had a motorcycle licence?

 

[Archangel7]

Thank You Archangel7 for the link to the date that the bike was stolen. I thought it was prior to WM's death, but I have a hard time finding specific articles, or when I do find them, they seem to have been slightly altered. It makes me miss good old newspapers, where once it was in locked into print, there was no changing it; modern media seems very Orwellian to me sometimes. If WM was alive when the Harley was stolen, where was it chopped that it was able to remain hidden from him the entire time? I understand if it was out of sight in a trailer, but how many trailers were there that they wouldn't notice another one? Also, when was AS at the hanger last? Did it look like a chop-shop then or just a place where people were storing their collection of toys?

Are there any photos of DM and motorcycles? We know he liked cars and trucks, but was he also into bikes? Can anyone check if he had a motorcycle licence?

I've seen one photo of DM with a motorcycle behind him. I got the impression it wasn't related to the photo, just happened to be behind him, and it made me think of France. But that's JMO as I quickly passed it looking for another pic. Silver/black touring type IIRC.

Here's AS's comment concerning what he thought at the time about the subject you're asking about.

.........“I thought he was just a spoilt little brat who had his way all his life and didn’t appreciate what his father was doing for him,” said Mr. Sharif. “He was an impediment to the hangar operation” who didn’t meet his deadlines, almost never arrived at work before noon, and refused to clear his collection of cars, jeeps, hot rods, jet skis and personal airplanes from the business premises.................

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/0...bosma-murder-suspect-started-to-dismantle-it/

 

[Archangel7]

The Harley was a 2010 per MSM report and it was stolen in Oct. 2012 per MSM.
He reportedly paid $35,000 so it was probably new. http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/straighttalk/archives/2013/05/20130530-065940.html

Sometimes Harley comes out with model(s) mid year.
Either way, purchased new, used, regardless of length of ownership or insurance, it was stolen per Hamilton Police.

 

[Alethea Dice]

According to the original article, the Harley was stolen on November 21, 2012. It was purchased used because he went to the States to buy it that previous summer. (Depending how you read "last year", I assume it means the summer of 2012.)

Not just any motorcycle but a $35,000, 2010 Harley Davidson, convertible softail and a cargo trailer worth $7,500. I felt for him because the last time I had run into him before that was last summer when he excitedly told me about driving down to the United States to buy this bike.

“It was in the area of King St. E. and Parliament St. on Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2012 at 12 noon,” said Marty. “A truck was seen backing down the driveway and hooking up to my cargo trailer and taking it away.”

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/02/08/more-to-snowstorm-than-traffic-chaos

It was also November when AS had the meeting with DM.

Things came to a head one day last November when Mr. Sharif, who lives in Austin, Texas, paid a visit to the new hangar and Dellen questioned him as to why no contracts were yet in place for the new Millardair aircraft maintenance and repair business.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/05/31/millard-aviation-business-in-decline-long-before-tim-bosma-murder-suspect-started-to-dismantle-it/

I guess November was a busy month.