Queens, NY -- A Whitestone firefighter, now on suspension, who was charged in January with being a fence in a motorcycle theft ring, was rearrested last week for additional charges.
Eric Kohler, 32, who worked out of Engine Company 295, was held without bail last Thursday when prosecutors told Judge Richard Buchter that the defendant in 2003 and 2004 sold car parts on eBay after reporting the car stolen. In addition, Vermont officials have filed charges claiming Kohler used a fake address five times to register parts stolen from someplace else.
On Monday, Kohler pleaded guilty to being part of the motorcycle ring. He and several of the defendants admitted their guilt and waived appeal. He will be sentenced on March 30th to from one-and-one-half to four-and-one-half years in prison.
Once the Queens case is completed, Kohler could be extradited to Vermont, where he faces an additional 30 years in jail.
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown held a major press conference in January to announce an undercover sting operation here uncovering an audacious gang of motorcycle thieves, who used eBay to sell stolen motorcycle parts for over $1 million. Kohler was charged with being one of two fences who sold the parts over the Internet.
Sixteen individuals, including Kohler and the alleged three other ringleaders, were charged with selling stolen motorcycles and their parts on the Internet, following a nine-month undercover investigation, using sophisticated court-approved electronic surveillance equipment as far away as Los Angeles and Columbus County Ohio.
The computer-savvy gang was brought down by a Ridgewood man, who reported to police that he recognized parts of his motorcycle for sale on eBay, which had been stolen from his driveway. The parts had unusual markings, making it easy for the owner to identify.
Police allege that the gang stole bikes and drove or hauled them to garages in Flushing and Whitestone where they were chopped up and identifying numbers altered. They were then photographed for sale on the Internet.
Police say they stole expensive motorcycles including Bourget, Big Dog, Yamaha and Suzuki models. The parts were primarily for purchasers of dwarf car racers in the Midwest and California and to people in Italy, Spain and Australia.
It is also alleged that Kohler and three others directed the thieves to get the desired motorcycles, who would then spot models and copy their license plate numbers. They were also able to work through unwitting insurance brokers to get the owners
