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N.J. men reunited with priceless motorcycles, alleged thief reported them stolen
Honor among thieves apparently isn’t what it used to be.
So thanks to a suspect in the Putnam County Jail telling police that a motorcycle he reportedly stole had, in turn, been stolen from him, a pair of Indian motorcycles -- each more than 100 years old -- were on their way back home to New Jersey Friday afternoon.
Suspect Robert Noble, 46, was incarcerated at the local jail last month for forgery, false informing and nonsupport of a dependent child when he sent word to Greencastle City Police that a priceless 1904 Indian motorcycle he reportedly had in a storage unit behind the old Coldwell Banker office in Greencastle had been stolen.
”The report just didn’t jibe at all,” GPD Assistant Chief Brian Hopkins said. “What he was saying just wasn’t adding up. He talked about living at Castlebury and having this storage unit ... I turned it (the case) over to (Det. Michael) Collins and he did a really good job working it.”
Noble had reportedly stolen both the 1904 and a 1912 Indian motorcycle -- valued at a collective $200,000 -- from the garage of a Palisades Park, N.J., man who had been letting Noble stay with him in his apartment.
The victims -- a father and son who drove to Greencastle Friday to recover the motorcycles -- asked that their names not be disclosed.
The owners reported the theft Aug. 25, two days after Noble was telling Greencastle police the 1904 Indian had been stolen from him.
“That’s how all this started,” Det. Collins said. “This is a first for me in my 10 years as a detective. We went down several roads investigating things. It was like the old spider web, ‘which road do you want to go down first?’”
Noble reportedly came to Greencastle with the bikes because he had relatives here. He put the 1912, which is disassembled with the frame wrapped in plastic and rest of the bike in a plastic tub, for sale on eBay and sold it to a Bloomington man for $18,000. He listed the 1904 on Craig’s List but before he could sell it, the antique Indian was stolen by another suspect, who police want to keep nameless because he has yet to be charged in the case locally.
Noble will be charged with the motorcycle thefts in New Jersey, Collins said, while the second suspect is expected to face charges in Putnam County once the Prosecutor’s Office reviews the case.
That alleged thief reportedly sold the 1904 Indian, which is valued at $150,000 or more, at a Brazil truck stop for $50,000.
“It looks like a bicycle with a little bitty motor on it,” Collins said. “If I had that thing, no bigger than it is, I’d have kept it in my living room.
“It’s crazy how all this happened,” the detective continued, “and ended up in little Greencastle.”
Meanwhile, the owners were obviously thrilled to get their Indian motorcycles back.
“This is a good day when they come home again,” the father said. “It’s almost like a miracle, I never thought we’d see them again.”
The New Jersey men praised Det. Collins and GPD for real investigative work, saying that didn’t just take down their information and say, “‘OK, we’ll let you know.’”
The motorcycles are important to them, they noted, because the Indians have been in their family for more than 60 years.
“We don’t know how long for sure,” his son said, “but we have original titles from the 1930s.”
The father, who before the thefts considered Noble a friend he’d known for about 25 years, said the suspect was “almost like a family member.” Noble worked for him and even helped the man buy the cables and locks that secured the very bikes he is accused of stealing.
“This is the worst time of my entire life on this planet,” the New Jersey man said, noting he had suffered betrayal, bank fraud and larceny and even had family heirlooms stolen -- all purportedly at the hands of a man be befriended.
But the discussion always went back to those priceless Indians.
“Those belong in a museum,” the owner said. “Those motorcycles are not replaceable.”
The crew from the “American Pickers” TV reportedly has been in contact with the family previously about buying the two Indian bikes, but the family has always resisted the price as far too low.
In fact, the father-and-son owners said the 1904 is so priceless, you’d have to go to an auction to ever find another one. Their Indian has its original paint and several people undertaking restorations have come to see it to get the exact coloring or the right positioning for their parts, they said.
“There’s only a few existing,” the owner said. “Usually you have to go to a museum to find one.”
Or apparently a storage locker in Greencastle.