A Bristol Township man is accused of operating a chop shop out of his Croydon garage and selling stolen motorcycle parts online under the username “pro-formancecycle215,” authorities said.
According to a probable cause affidavit, 28-year-old Justin Kerper and another man – not identified in court papers – were caught by police after fleeing the scene of an attempted theft in Lawrenceville, N.J. in late January. The duo was jacking up and attempting to take the rims off of a Mitsubishi Spyder car, authorities said.
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When police spoke with the man accompanying Kerper, he told them the two were from Pennsylvania and were attempting to steal the motorcycle sitting in front of the Spyder, the probable cause affidavit stated.
The man also told authorities that Kerper had four or five stolen motorcycles at his home garage and he had seen several stolen motorcycles in the garage over the three weeks, police said.
When police in New Jersey obtained a search warrant and executed it on the Ford SUV the two men drove to Lawrenceville, investigators discovered a handwritten list of apartment complexes and what motorcycles could be found there, police said. Authorities also reported finding pages handwritten notes citing motorcycle parts and the cost of selling and shipping them online.
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In Croydon, Bucks County Detectives and state police got a warrant and searched the garage, located in the 900 block of Second Avenue, and found eight sport motorcycles, one bike engine, gas tanks still filled with gas, wheels, ignition switches and various other parts, police said. Five of the recovered bikes had “aftermarket” keys in the ignitions.
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Through further investigation, authorities said they discovered the bikes and the engine were stolen out of various towns in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania between December and January.
Police said they found a shipping container with Kerper’s garage listed as the shipping address. The name Proformance Cycle was listed on the box.
The eBay account linked to Proformance Cycle listed 287 motorcycle parts for sale between November and early January, police said.
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According to eBay, pro-formancecycle215 has a 98.5 percent positive feedback score.
Kerper was charged with owning and operating a chop shop and nine counts of receiving stolen property. He was arraigned last week before District Judge Frank Peranteau Sr. and released of $300,000 unsecured bail.
