Kamron Golbaf retrieving his motorcycle from CHP officer Ralph Villegas at the Temecula station. (CHP Temecula)
He’s too big for it now, but a California man is thrilled to be reunited with the dirt bike that was stolen from him in 2001, when he was just 11.
Kamron Golbaf was “taken aback” when the California Highway Patrol contacted him with the news that the 1998 Honda CR 80 he’d reported stolen 17 years ago had been found.
CHP spokesman Officer Mike Lassig told The Press Enterprise that the motorcycle had been purchased by someone through a Craigslist ad, but when he went to the DMV to register it, they couldn’t find any records for it and handed the case off to the CHP Temecula station to investigate.
An officer there “inspected the dirt bike and, through confidential law enforcement means, was able to determine that the motorcycle had been stolen,” Lassig said.
An investigation into the original theft and the Craigslist sale is ongoing, but Golbaf was able to retrieve the 80 cc motorcycle, which is so small that it fit in the short bed of his Nissan Frontier pickup with the tailgate closed.
Lassig said the incident serves as a cautionary tale about Internet sales and reminds used car shoppers that they can always ask the CHP for a stolen vehicle check before they close a deal.