Shoe leather, technology help nab suspected thieves

Officers arrested four people and returned nine stolen motorcycles to their owners.

Police received two calls Thursday morning reporting three stolen motorcycles – two from Barrymore Street and one from S. Walnut Creek Parkway. The motorcycles were stolen within a 45-minute timeframe, Sughrue said.

Officer J.C. Black was dispatched to the Barrymore Street call and Officer D.W. Mead was dispatched to the S. Walnut Creek Parkway call. Upon arrival, Mead, whose vehicle is equipped with LoJack tracking equipment, learned that the motorcycle stolen from that location was equipped with a LoJack transceiver.

Using the computer in his police car, Mead immediately entered information about the stolen motorcycle into the National Crime Information Center database. The NCIC entry activated the LoJack transceiver, and the LoJack tracking equipment in Mead’s car quickly detected a nearby signal from it.

Both Mead and Black responded to the source of the signal, which led them to the 2400 block of Raymond Smith Road.

Once there, the officers located two suspects – Christopher David Brown, 25, and Vincent Lamar Street, 24 –  who were unloading motorcycles from a trailer, which was later determined to have been stolen as well, according to police.

The two men ran through a wooded area and Mead ran after them as Black directed other units responding to the area. After an extended run through the woods, the two men were taken into custody. Several other stolen motorcycles were located in the same woods, police said.

Officers took Brown and Street to the Wake County Jail, where each was charged with nine counts of felony larceny (for the recovered motorcycles) and 10 counts of felony possession of stolen property (for the recovered motorcycles and the recovered trailer).

Later Thursday, police arrested a third suspect, Edward Cooper Outlaw, 25, and took him to the jail, where he faced the same charges.

After that, police arrested a fourth suspect, Jennifer Dejesus, 27. She faces three counts of possession of stolen property in connection with the stolen motorcycles. In addition, Dejesus was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell or deliver, maintaining a dwelling for the purpose of selling or delivering marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The trailer was reported stolen on July 11, which is also the date of the first reported motorcycle larceny associated with the suspects, according to police.