Stolen Dirt Bike Returned to Owner in California 17 Years Later

Kamron Golbaf retrieving his motorcycle from CHP officer Ralph Villegas at the Temecula st
CHP Temecula

A California man has been reunited with the dirt bike stolen from him 17 years ago, after thinking he would never see it again.

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) contacted Kamron Golbaf on Wednesday to let him know that the 1998 Honda CR 80 that was stolen from him in 2001 when he was 11 years old had been found.

When Golbaf found out that he would be reunited with his boyhood treasure, he said he was “taken aback” by the discovery, according to the CHP.

“I was devastated,” Golbaf told Temecula Patch, recalling the time his bike was stolen as a child. “It was a big a deal when it was taken. For the longest time, I thought my dad got rid of it because I started to do some stupid, unsafe stuff on it.”

CHP spokesman Officer Mike Lassig told the Press-Enterprise that someone purchased the motorcycle on Craigslist. When the buyer went to register the vehicle at the Department of Motor Vehicles, the agency told him that there were no records for the bike and sent the case to the CHP in Temecula for investigation.

The CHP officer “inspected the dirt bike and, through confidential law enforcement means, was able to determine that the motorcycle had been stolen,” Lassig said.

Lassig added that the investigation into the theft and the Craigslist sale is ongoing, and warns customers making vehicle purchases online to check with the CHP to make sure the vehicle is not stolen.

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