Texas - Alleged high end bike thief in Austin arrested

On Tuesday, Austin police department did a raid on the home of a guy that is alleged to have been running a theft/chop-shop operation in Austin. He specialized in high end road, tri, and mountain bikes.

If you had bike stolen in Austin, you might want to check with APD. They are trying to reunite bike with their owners.

More on the story here: http://austinbikeblog.org/2009/02/04/apd-arrests-alleged-bike-thief/
http://austinbikeblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/jamesclaytonbooking1.jpg

The Austin Police Department just put out this statement:

Yesterday (February 3rd) detectives with the Austin police department executed 2 search warrants on James Clayton's residence as well as a storage unit that he was renting. At both locations they recovered a large amount of property, some of which has already been linked to crimes committed locally. Yesterday he was arrested on 4 counts, 1 of which was burglary of a residence in Travis County, and the other 3 counts were for larceny theft of bikes in Maricopa County, AZ. This morning a felony theft charge was filed on Mr. Clayton with regards to some of the recovered property. Add that to the previous 4 felony charges, and that's a grand total of 5 felonies with more anticipated as they process the property.

If you are a friend of acquaintance of James Clayton and believe you have been victimized in some way, please contact Detective Scott Askew with the Austin Police Department. Here is his information:

Detective Scott Askew - 512-974-5978

Hmmmm...I wonder if my wonderful Schwinn Moab counts as "high end". It was pretty sweet with all the top notch MTB components...but it was taken almost 4 years ago, so I'm guessing it's been long ago chopped. Ba$tard.

If you are a friend of acquaintance of James Clayton and believe you have been victimized in some way. . .

WFT? this scumbucket was ripping off friends and acquaintances?
Can we (texas) charge him the same as rustling? that's a hanging offense right?

marty

If you want to argue that your bike is a "horse", you can use Deadly Force to stop an incidence of horse theft at night! Actually, you can also use Deadly Force to stop criminal mischief at night... but, you'd better have a damn good lawyer and $100,000 - $250,000 to throw away after that kind of incident.

I attended a press conference at Austin Police Department today with more info about this case. He had been stealing bikes since 2006 after fleeing Arizona on similar charges. They recovered about 20 bikes and parts worth $60,000.

Article with more is here: http://austinontwowheels.com/2009/02/05/apd-release-more-information-on-alleged-bike-thief-james-clayton/

Looks like Clayton had an accomplice.

http://austinontwowheels.org/2009/02/19/the-james-clayton-saga-continues-with-the-arrest-of-layne-severson/

http://austinontwowheels.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/layneseversonbookingphoto.jpg

Looks like Clayton had an accomplice.

http://austinontwowheels.org/2009/02/19/the-james-clayton-saga-continues-with-the-arrest-of-layne-severson/

http://austinontwowheels.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/layneseversonbookingphoto.jpg

Wow, she's not bad lookin'...

Looks like Clayton had an accomplice.

http://austinontwowheels.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/layneseversonbookingphoto.jpg

I had wondered how the cops finally tipped to the scam - now it's obvious - there were moles within the organization.

Well, as always, allegedly had an accomplice ...

These comments (http://www.atxbs.com/?q=node/829) suggest that she might be just another victim.

Denial? (http://www.atxbs.com/?q=node/829#comment-1153)
Submitted by damicoaustin on Thu, 02/19/2009 - 11:10am.
What I heard was that she was in complete denial about Clayton's antics. Also heard he might have avoided fleeing to be with her and ride it out. But I never got a hold of her to confirm what she thought....looks like it will be even more difficult now!


Layne's Innocent (http://www.atxbs.com/?q=node/829#comment-1149)
Submitted by Jackflash on Thu, 02/19/2009 - 10:09am.
I've known Layne for years. I know she wouldn't knowingly participate in any bike villainy. Sad she's gotten swept-up in that (alleged) ****er's bull****. I stood up for principle before (didn't know James), this time the person I know Layne is.


... either way, the drama never stops! I guess it should all get worked out in court, eventually.

Yes, dougmc, you are correct. These are alleged crimes. No one has been convicted of anything, though it seems the case behind Clayton is pretty strong. We'll see if Layne was in on it or got taken advantage of.