A THANK YOU TO THE SOCAL MOTOCROSS COMMUNITY FROM BRIAN MEDEIROS

Brian Medeiros (934) on his Suzuki RM-Z250 at the Pala 250 National.

By Brian Medeiros.

“On the morning of November 29, 2022, I woke up to every motocross racers worst nightmare. When I walked into my garage, my 2022 RM-Z250 race bike and a KTM 250SXF had been taken from garage. The thief had broken in through my side gate, picked the lock to my side garage door and wheeled the bikes right out of my garage to a waiting trailer.

Brian’s Suzuki before it was stolen.

“I would never wish this feeling on anyone. I was in shock. I quickly put a post up on Instagram to get the word out that the bikes had been stolen. As the day went on I followed up on a few leads, one from a reliable source that said he had seen the bikes on a trailer in a cul-de-sac in Anaheim Hills. I drove there, but, of course, the bikes had moved on.

A Ring doorbell out-take of the thief driving past a house in Anaheim Hills several hours after the bikes were stolen.

But, I knocked on every door on the cul-de-sac and finally found a family who had Ring doorbell footage of a brand-new red Nissan truck driving by their house with my bikes on a trailer. They gave me the video and I posted it in Instagram, but I was already a few steps behind.

“I began to lose hope until later in the day when Dirt Rider‘s Andrew Oldar called and said he was following the suspect on the 15 freeway heading south not that far from my house. I immediately jumped in my truck and started heading in that direction.

This is Brian’s Suzuki and KTM in the glare of the California Highway Patrol’s flashing lights. Note that the thief stripped all the graphics off the bikes to conceal their identity, but bright yellow Suzukis stick out in SoCal.

“Thanks to Andrew‘s kindness, his call to the CHP and his willingness to follow the suspect all the way until the CHP caught up with them, I got my bikes back from a criminal who had just bought the red truck the day before, but stole the trailer that he used to steal my bikes. The CHP officers said, that he would be going away on multiple charges based on what they found in his truck and the dollar value to the bikes and the trailer.

A happy Hawaiian Pro at work.

“I’d like to say thank you everyone who saw my instagram posts, kept an eye out, reposted it for others to see and, of course, to Andrew Oldar who cracked the case. From the bottom of my heart I thank everyone who showed concern, I deeply appreciate it. And on a side note, be sure and have photos of your bikes and any pertinent info handy to aid in the recovery. I have increased security, added motion sensor lights, more locks and an alarm to make sure this doesn’t happen again—and you should too. I think my Instagram strategy is the first place to start when your bikes are stolen and it didn’t hurt that the SoCal motocross community is so tight knit.”