Over the past several weeks, the Cartersville Police Department received multiple reports in reference to stolen motorcycles and related motorcycle parts.
The victims, who are spread across multiple states, all reported that their motorcycles and motorcycle parts had previously been sent to Frederick Leroy Hether to be customized. Some of these owners stated that Mr. Hether had closed his original shop and transferred their property to an unknown location and was not responding to calls. Several owners had been attempting to locate and collect their property from Mr. Hether for several years.
The Cartersville Police Department, Criminal Investigations Division, opened an investigation and determined that Mr. Hether had transferred his business to 76 Center Rd and named it Velocity Twin Cycles. However, Mr. Hether had since closed this business, stopped corresponding with the customers, and has failed to return any of the motorcycles and/or parts to the rightful owners.
During the course of the investigation, criminal investigation division members were able to locate and arrest Mr. Hether on June 21st. Investigators also identified a storage unit, which Hether had rented in the Cartersville area. Investigators executed searches at Hether’s residence and storage unit, where they recovered eight stolen Harley Davidson custom motorcycles, a travel trailer, multiple motors, and parts that had been reported stolen by the owners. All of the recovered motorcycles were missing engines which were to be customized by Mr. Hether. Some of the property had been sent to Mr. Hether for customization as far back as 2009.
In the days that followed, the Cartersville Police Department returned the all of the motorcycles and most parts to the respective owners. The total amount of returned property has an estimated value in excess of 100,000 dollars.
Mr. Hether has been charged with eight counts of Theft by Conversion. The case is still ongoing as investigators attempt to identify any additional victims.