A recent rash of thefts in a Bellevue neighborhood has residents on edge. The thieves are targeting vehicles and motorcycles, brazen enough to even take them right from the driveway.
"I guess we just thought it would never happen to us, that we'd lose both our bikes in one night," said Mark Maxwell, the recent victim of a motorcycle theft.
Maxwell and his wife, Kat, used to park their sports bikes behind their red pick up in the driveway, but Monday morning they walked out to find an empty space where the bikes had been.
"They were able to wheel them all the way back to the tree line over there, where they were able to destroy the ignitions and get them to turn on," he said.
A couple hours after filing a police report, Maxwell's wife's bike was recovered. "The thief had actually crashed it, and a man down at the Petro chemical plant had seen him crash it and went over to investigate, and he took off into the woods."
Maxwell estimates there's at least a thousand dollars damage. "They banged up the gas tank, they banged up the speedometer, tore off a little bit of the windscreen, it's just, it's really nasty," said Maxwell.
Maxwell is hopeful his wife's bike will lead investigators to find his 2007 Kawasaki ZX10R bike, worth about $11,000.
To make matters worse, Mark is a veteran who returned home from overseas just a couple months ago. He was looking forward to riding his bike all around town. "It felt, it felt very good, I always felt free when I was able to ride my bike, just kind of hop on and go, and you feel the sun on your back, and the wind on your skin, and it just feels good."
Maxwell is left with no vehicle, and since he recently broke his toe, the only mode of transportation he has left is walking with a limp.
Maxwell says his neighbor also had his motorcycle stolen from his driveway recently. His is a green 2002 ZX9R. If anyone has information on either bike, you're asked to call Bellevue Police at (402)-293-3100.
