Local motorcycle luminary Rey Sotelo retired from the business
six years ago, but federal prosecutors accused the Gilroy man last
week of helping a central California chop shop send a stolen
Harley-Davidson to Sweden
– without Uncle Sam’s permission.
Local motorcycle luminary Rey Sotelo retired from the business six years ago, but federal prosecutors accused the Gilroy man last week of helping a central California chop shop send a stolen Harley-Davidson to Sweden – without Uncle Sam’s permission.
The bike in question never made it across the Atlantic Ocean, but Sotelo has been charged with conspiracy after state and federal law officers arrested him July 15 in Gilroy for allegedly helping to counterfeit the bike’s official papers. Eight other men throughout Stanislaus County were also arrested that morning for allegedly associating with the Road Dog Cycle in Denair, southeast of Modesto. Federal prosecutors have used a grand jury’s findings to indict a total of 11 men, including five with law enforcement connections.
Chief among those charged are Robert Holloway, 61, a retired Stanislaus County sheriff’s deputy who lives in Turlock; and his son, Brent Holloway, 36, of Modesto. The two men ran Road Dog Cycle and face racketeering and conspiracy charges for trafficking stolen parts, loan-sharking and doing business with outlaw motorcycle clubs such as the Hells Angels, according to the indictment filed by U.S. Attorney Joseph Russionello.
If convicted for his alleged part in the Scandinavian scheme, Sotelo could spend five years in jail and pay about $250,000. But the former face of the Indian Motorcycle Corporation in Gilroy – who posted $100,000 bond Thursday – said he has been pulled in with the wrong crowd.
“I’m not the guy they want. They’re just throwing me in this to sensationalize the case,” Sotelo said as he pulled out of his Day Road driveway Tuesday afternoon.
He described his association with the Holloway men as “minimal” and added that his former business, Indian-CMC, gave Road Dog Cycle a bike on consignment that Sotelo said he thought may have been headed for Sweden. He declined to elaborate, though, until he had a chance to speak with his private criminal defense attorney, Richard Pointer of Hinkle, Jachimowicz, Pointer & Emanuel in San Jose. Sotelo was scheduled to appear in court less than two hours later, but he said he was not going up to San Jose. Pointer did not return messages Tuesday.
Sotelo began working in the motorcycle industry in 1979 when he opened a retail outlet, South County Motorcycles, in Gilroy. He also built custom motorcycles for celebrity sports figures such as professional basketball player Karl Malone, professional football player Ralph Tamm, Major League Baseball manager Dusty Baker and former San Francisco 49er Eric Wright. He even built a re-creation of the Captain America bike from the movie Easy Rider for actor Peter Fonda.
In 1995 Sotelo opened California Motorcycle Company in downtown Gilroy as a full-scale manufacturing operation. Indian Motorcycle Corporation bought CMC in 1999, and Sotelo joined IMC’s management team to assist with product development. In 2001 he was recognized by the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame and received the first-ever J.C. “Pappy” Hoel Outstanding Achievement Award.
Right around the time Sotelo joined the IMC team, authorities allege the Holloways and area biker gangs began illegal activities. Road Dog Cycle became a gathering place and commercial supplier for the Hells Angels, the Jus Brothers, the Alky Haulers, the East Bay Dragons and other outlaw clubs, according to the indictment. The Holloway men and their associates “promoted a climate of fear through violence and threats of violence” and received cover from retired California Highway Patrol officer and former part-time Merced County sheriff’s deputy Joseph Tyler, 65, of Merced, who helped identify and conceal stolen parts for the shop, according to the indictment.
Beginning August 2006, the Holloway men and their associates began obtaining a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. The bike was for Fredrick A. Noreberg, 36, of Sweden, the chapter president of the Red Devils outlaw motorcycle club in that country, according to the indictment. This is when prosecutors allege that Sotelo came into the picture: Some time between Sept. 21 and Nov. 2, 2007, Robert Holloway, Sotelo and the Swede linked up and agreed to export the bike illegally.
“Sotelo would assist the defendants in the export of this motorcycle by supplying false (manufacture statements of origin) and a false (vehicle identification number),” reads the indictment. Surveillance captured Sotelo speaking with Robert Holloway and the Swede about the plan on two occasions in October before the 21st, when Noreberg received the tampered bike from Robert Holloway. The bike never made it out of the country, but authorities are still looking for Noreberg, according to Sacramento-based FBI Special Agent Steve Dupre.
The charges were announced Tuesday afternoon at the Modesto Police Department by Drew Parenti, Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent-in-charge, and U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott, both from Sacramento. If convicted, the suspects could face decades in prison and fines of $250,000 to $2.5 million.
