Wild Cherry Van Restorer Arrested on Felony Theft Charges

[tardis454]

I've been following this project since it started in 2017. I followed the restoration waiting for this to happen and it did. He was arrested at his divorce hearing on a fugitive warrant and charged with 2 counts of felony theft and 1 misdemeanor count of criminal trespass. I knew from the get go that this guy never had an actual title and/or bill of sale in hand nor did he 'purchase' the van from the previous owners. He received a lot of money and parts donations from gofundme and the van community to do this restoration. I suspect the people who donated to the gofundme page for the restoration will want their money back now. A gofundme page has been set up for his legal fees. Oh,.. and the van has also been hidden..

Here are a few links to the story...

Bangshift coverage (McT might want to give an update on this..)

https://bangshift.com/general-news/project-cars/serious-rescue-wild-cherry-chevy-van-movie-van-nuys-blvd/

https://bangshift.com/general-news/project-cars/rescue-update-the-wild-cherry-chevy-van-has-come-a-long-way-in-half-a-year/

Various news outlets reporting on the arrest...

https://autoweek.com/gallery/car-life/wild-story-wild-cherry-van

https://www.bnd.com/news/local/article219478880.html

https://www.chevyhardcore.com/features/car-features/wild-cherry-van-rescued-restored-and-ridiculed-for-being-stolen/

He did a hell of a job restoring the van but the bottom line is he stole it..

[RockJustRock]

CA registration policy IS that arcane. Sounds like he has a good shot at coming out on top. Plus it was in LANCASTER meaning a LOT of bad behavior was involved. A lot of sour grapes, hatin', neglect, opportunism, damn nearly every emotion that COULD be associated with fringe celebrity status of an object and California behavior. Lotsa lawyers gonna make tiny fees and big headlines....

Makes ME wanna go find a Van and build a "Wild Cherry" tribute just to stir the pot except for the obvious copyright risks. At least Freiburger didn't get involved. HE would have kept the patina.

[RockJustRock]

So... Anyone got anything on the "Aloha Bobby and Rose" Camaro?

[Eric]

Odd she only filed a report after it was finished..
And not during the months she watched the build happening.

[squirrel]

gotta wait for it to have full value, before you ask for it back

[Eric]

gotta wait for it to have full value, before you ask for it back

The state is most likely going to get it with the rmv fees owed on it.

[RockJustRock]

I think the state leans more towards taking the car away from the original owner. She should have filed it as non-op if she had any intention of ever owning it again.

[antmnte]

So... Anyone got anything on the "Aloha Bobby and Rose" Camaro?

I met Paul Lematt once years ago. He still owns it. Nice guy.

[tardis454]

I'm disappointed to see this happen to the guy. He did a hell of a job bringing a heap of a van that would likely never be restored back from the dead making it beautiful again. Regardless he should have gotten in touch with the owners and got a bill of sale or a title. I suspect the California non-op vehicle fees would have far out weighed the value of the van before the restoration. But the law is the law and it doesn't matter how much time or money he put into a project. If you don't have the paperwork to back you up you leave yourself wide open to actions like this.

I've dealt with and seen stuff like this happen all the time when I worked in auto salvage. We ran an impound lot at the yard I worked for. People would abandon cars in parking lots, on the side of the road, in yards etc. We'd get called to tow them away, we'd impound them, and the cars would accumulate storage fees. We impounded cars that had loans on them and the finance companies and car lots usually wanted them back. They would always threaten legal action, but we were in the clear because the vehicle was considered abandoned and the city, county, property owners wanted them removed which they had the right to do. So even if the lien holders or owners took us to court they would still have to pay every penny of the towing and storage fees that were owed. If they didn't pay we could apply for a storage lien and the vehicle would usually be forfeited for non payment.

[SuperBuickGuy]

ya gotta follow the rules, sucks to be him but I think he deserves everything he's going to get. I get that it was sitting, rotting, but if it ain't yours.... it ain't yours. I have 2 cars that are in the titling process and I'll be damned before I spend money putting them together if I don't have the title sorted.

[Eric]

I'm disappointed to see this happen to the guy. He did a hell of a job bringing a heap of a van that would likely never be restored back from the dead making it beautiful again. Regardless he should have gotten in touch with the owners and got a bill of sale or a title. I suspect the California non-op vehicle fees would have far out weighed the value of the van before the restoration. But the law is the law and it doesn't matter how much time or money he put into a project. If you don't have the paperwork to back you up you leave yourself wide open to actions like this.

I've dealt with and seen stuff like this happen all the time when I worked in auto salvage. We ran an impound lot at the yard I worked for. People would abandon cars in parking lots, on the side of the road, in yards etc. We'd get called to tow them away, we'd impound them, and the cars would accumulate storage fees. We impounded cars that had loans on them and the finance companies and car lots usually wanted them back. They would always threaten legal action, but we were in the clear because the vehicle was considered abandoned and the city, county, property owners wanted them removed which they had the right to do. So even if the lien holders or owners took us to court they would still have to pay every penny of the towing and storage fees that were owed. If they didn't pay we could apply for a storage lien and the vehicle would usually be forfeited for non payment.

my bet is the owners knew of the deal, and was fine with it as it took care of the rmv back fees, and the new owner didn't care about a title/etc because it wasn't an issue for him.
Something is really fishy about the whole thing.

[Loren]

By my quick overview, the van whatever it's DMV status was private property, removed from private property.

CA DMV back fees don't apply to vehicles that ran off the books back when they used to do so, and CA makes it easy to return it to the system particularly if you can show old title. The current Non-Op scheme is free, when applied for on current reg and after a small fee but for a car that's been sitting unregistered since the eighties it doesn't apply.

Nice to see the van restored, but if somebody took possession without authorization to do that they're screwed. The owners may have not been aware of the YouTube thing but it doesn't matter, it's still been theirs all along. Maybe if the owner gets it back they can tip their hat to the GoFundMe crowd who chipped in.

[SuperBuickGuy]

By my quick overview, the van whatever it's DMV status was private property, removed from private property.
.

it's so easy to do it the right way. A month or two ago, I sent a $25 starbux card and letter (with all documents) to the registered owner of my 64 Buick in California. I've heard nothing from him, but it doesn't matter anymore - I will file for a ownership-in-doubt with the Dept. of Licensing..... if the guy comes back when the car's done, that card, letter, and stuff will foreclose any such silly argument. Yeah, it costs money and takes time, but yet still we hear about people getting their stolen car back decades later and some people think the law doesn't apply to them or they can clever their way out of it.

I don't how better to say it then what Loren just said. It's private property, you remove it, and you're a thief.

And let's close the loop, if he destroys the van he'll then get charged with destroying the property and will spend what ever years left spent out of prison paying these people back. He has no "good argument" - all he has is varying levels of bad. His ONLY chance would be if he could prove that they knew he was fixing it - not reporting it could start the statute of limitations and/or give a judge the ability to reduce the theft from Felony to misdemeanor.

And that I don't understand - how they call it felony, it's the value of the property when stolen..... there is no way that was worth $1500 when it happened.

[tardis454]

And that I don't understand - how they call it felony, it's the value of the property when stolen..... there is no way that was worth $1500 when it happened.

I think the felony charges have something to do with crossing state lines in order to obtain said van. That also makes it a federal offense if I'm not mistaken.

[Loren]

I know I've told the story of a buddy being approached by a guy who had been hired to clear a property and offered an old Stude pickup for free to get it out of there, we spent a full day in the heat digging it out of the dried mud up to the axles and once loaded up another guy comes along and claims it's his and not available. So back into the dirt it went. I'm guessing we could have wound up in trouble if we'd successfully removed it and were then later challenged for ownership...believing the first guy was completely legit was a mistake and we should have looked up and contacted the property owner to make sure and maybe gotten a signature on something.

I still wound up with it later, but for a couple hundred bucks.

Turns out the "seller" was a guy who for years basically terrorized a neighbor of mine riding his dirt bike on someone else's private property and helped result in the whole neighborhood becoming off-limits to such vehicle so it kinda pissed me off to give money to this guy who craps on other people while protecting himself but that's how it goes. Life in a small town.