COPS in real life! Another thief/scammer named Michael behind bars!

OK folks this is a true story. Not much Ferrari content although I do at least drive my Porsche C2 in it. I left out the names of all the victims to protect their privacy although I feel absolutely no remorse pasting the name of the bad guy all over the internet.

The follwing is a copy of my statement I turned into Seattle Police in regards to my involvement with apprehending a check scammer/vehicle thief this last weekend:




12/14/05

To whom it may concern:

RE: Michael Knight fraud case with Store A and Store B.

My name is Kie C. Robertson. I own and operate Red Label Moto (1527 Harvard Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122) a used-only motorcycle store.

Perhaps 2 months ago, I replied to an ad on Craigslist for a Brand B motorcycle with an advertised price of $6500 which is about $2000 below the retail price.

The person who replied back, Michael Knight, said he had the bike in his possession and he could show it to me on that Monday evening. When he arrived on the bike that evening at my shop, we recognized each other from when he was a customer at a former workplace of mine, a motorcycle store, way back in 1998.

The bike was clean as described, although he provided no proof of ownership nor did he have a license plate on the bike. He explained that he liked to ride fast hence no plate. I asked where he bought the bike, and he said he bought it new at another dealer in Vancouver, WA. for a great price. I expressed interest in purchasing the bike if he could provide proof of ownership and he suggested we meet the following morning and he would have that and I could pay him the $6500 in cash. That next day, the next couple weeks, actually, he never returned any of my calls or answered any of my emails about the Brand B bike.

Perhaps 3 days after meeting with Mr. Knight about the Brand B bike, my phone rang and it was a motorcycle wholesaler who sometimes calls me with bikes for sale. He told me about a couple bikes he had and then he mentioned a Brand B bike that fit the description of the bike Mr. Knight had shown me. Turns out he bought it from Mr. Knight for $6500 and was now offering it to me for $7500. At first I was upset with myself for missing out on a good deal but then I learned that Mr. Wholesaler was still waiting for the title from Mr. Knight so I suspected something was not right. But oh well... not my problem anymore.

Perhaps 2 weeks after that, I was at Store B on other business. I happened to ask the owner if he had ever heard of a Michael Knight. The owner literally turned white and asked what I knew about him. I shared with him my experience thus far with Mr. Knight and he explained that Mr. Knight had purchased the Brand B bike from them (he had lied to me about buying the bike in Vancouver) and he had paid with $13,000 check written on a closed account. Mr. Knight was then allowed to leave with the bike after writing the check.

I told Store B owner that I knew the whereabouts of his (essentially) stolen bike. I gave him the wholesaler's phone number and told Store B owner that, as I far as I knew, he still had the bike and was waiting for the title from Michael Knight.

Fast forward to Saturday, 12/10/05. At about 11:45am, an ad appeared on Craigslist for a Brand A motorcycle for $14,500 which is about $6k below retail. I responded to the ad via email at about 12:15pm and I was soon involved in negotiations with a "Kevin Renalds" about the bike. He told me that he was pulling the bike from storage and also another person was interested who could include an Xbox 360 video game. I told him I could do the same and I could pay immediately.

As a sidenote, the description of the Brand A motorcycle in question was very similar to one I knew belonged to one of the owner's of Store A. I had heard from the new GM there, that that particular bike had been sold or was being sold. While I was waiting to hear from "Kevin", I called Store A GM and asked him if the name of the person who bought the Brand A bike from them. I asked if it was Kevin Renalds and he replied back, no, the person's name was Michael Tice.

"Kevin" said OK to my offer of $14.5k cash and an Xbox 360 and told me he would stop by later that afternoon. He then stopped contact via email and I feared it was another scam or I had been too slow. Oh well. Then, my phone rang about 7:30pm and this time it was Michael Knight. He claimed to not recognize who I was from our experience before but then he finally "remembered".

I did not let on that I had heard all about his check scam at Store B or the fact that I knew who had actually bought the Brand B bike from him. I just played along, and expressed my disappointment in missing out on the Brand B bike. He said he understood, and mentioned that he sold it to his dad. Now that that was water under the bridge, he would let me buy the Brand A bike.

He rode over to my shop about 8:30pm Saturday night 12/10/05. The bike was as described, and I said I would buy it as long as he could provide some sort of proof of ownership. He said that he had just put the title in his name the previous Thursday, and he didn't have the title yet. I said no cash until proof of ownership and we decided to wait until Monday 12/12/05 and get it sorted out. He felt comfortable enough to leave the bike and key with me locked in my shop, and I gave him a ride in my car to another part of the Seattle area. Our plan was to meet Monday night at my bank (Wells Fargo) and do the exchange once he produced a title or some sort of proof of ownership.

On Monday afternoon, I checked with WA DMV and sure enough the bike was registered to the person who I thought owned it in the first place, one of the majority shareholder's of Store A. Clearly, this bike had been sold or had at least originated there. I then called the shareholder's cell number to get GM's home or cell number since Store A is closed on Mondays. Couldn't get GM on the phone so I got another number for the other partner in Store A I know.

That partner in Store A answered right away Monday evening about 5pm. I quickly explained what was happening and needless to say he was glad to hear I had the bike in my possession. He explained that Michael Knight had written a $24,000 check that he claimed was from his parents at about 6:30pm Saturday night 12/10/05. Mr. Knight was then allowed to leave on "his" new bike and he basically rode straight to my shop on Capitol Hill in Seattle. When I had called Store A and asked for the name of the person buying the bike, the GM mistakenly told me "Tice" and not "Knight", otherwise I would have known something was up right away.

Meanwhile, Mr. Knight was expecting to meet me at my bank (Wells Fargo on 14th and John) at 6pm or so to do the exchange. It was a little after 5pm and I went to the Seattle Police precinct on 12th and Pine. I explained everything the best I could to the officer behind the window and he managed to alert a detective who was just leaving for home. I then called Mr. Knight and fabricated a family emergency excuse to put him off until Tuesday morning 12/13/05.

The detective and another officer met with us (Store A partner had arrived by then) and took all our information. He told us to come back at 8am Tuesday 12/13/05 and the morning crew would take over.

We arrived Tuesday morning and a Police Sergeant and Detective took all our info again and they had me call Mr. Knight and arrange a meeting. Mr. Knight wanted to meet in Everett so I picked the Wells Fargo on Evergreen Way near Everett Mall. 10:30am was the arranged meeting time.

The Sergeant had me hold back in my car from the Wells Fargo parking lot until he had scoped it out and got into position. He called me at 10:15am and told me to drive up and wait. Mr. Knight then arrived at maybe 10:25am in a white 90's Toyota Land Cruiser with no plates. Mr. Knight parked, walked over to me in my car and we greeted each other. He had in his hand a packet with the extra key to the bike and the paperwork from Store A from his "purchase".

The Sergeant and his partner then drove up in their unmarked car and arrested Mr. Knight. A lot of other police then arrived and after a short while I was told I could go.

Any other questions I can answer or information I can provide please do not hesitate to call.

Kie C. Robertson