Stolen Dirt Bike Reunited With Boy, 16 Years Later: Temecula CHP

TEMECULA, CA — When Kamron Golbaf was just 12 years old, he had a tough lesson in how the world can be a cruel place. His prized dirt bike was stolen from his Riverside garage. So, he went about reporting it missing to police — with the help of his mom, of course — but he would never again see that bike. Until now, that is.

"I was devastated," Golbaf, now a 29-year-old man, recalled to Patch of his 12-year-old self.

On March 8, he got a call from his mom who had some news. She'd just been alerted by authorities that his long-lost bike had been located in the Temecula area — it just took a little while. More than 16 years to be exact.

"I was in shock," Golbaf said of the news. "I was super excited."

It turns out that after the 1998 Honda CR 80 dirt bike was stolen from Golbaf, no one ever tried to register it until just recently. According to CHP Officer Mike Lassig, a man purchased the Honda from an undisclosed source who had advertised it on CraigsList. After the buy, the man attempted to register the bike at the DMV but was informed that because there was no record of the vehicle on file, it would have to be inspected by a CHP officer before any registration could be issued.

"Officer [Ralph] Villegas inspected the dirt bike and, through confidential law enforcement means, was able to determine that the motorcycle had been stolen on December 3, 2001," Lassig said.

Villegas located and contacted Golbaf's mom who got him in touch with the now-adult man.

Golbaf said that after that call, he couldn't wait to be reunited with his prized possession.

"It was a big a deal when it was taken," he recalled of the incident. "For the longest time I thought my dad got rid of it because I started to to do some stupid, unsafe stuff on it."

The man retrieved the bike from the CHP's Temecula station on Wednesday, remarking that he had forgotten that the two- wheeler was so "small."

"I didn't know if it was still going to look good," he said. However it did.

And the first thing that he did when he got it home? Took it for a brief ride, of course.

"I rode it yesterday, but just for a short minute," he said Thursday. "When I have some free time, I'm going to put in some maintenance and care."

Officer Lassig said this episode serves as a cautionary tale to the public about purchasing used vehicles from online classifieds sites.

Anyone who may have suspicions about a purchase is welcome to stop by any CHP office and submit a vehicle identification number to be entered into a database to ensure the vehicle is legal, Lassig said.

The Temecula station's auto theft detail is currently investigating the Golbaf theft.

— Images courtesy of the California Highway Patrol