***UPDATE***
See comments for all the details on the stolen scooter… Plate, VIN, Color and Year! If you’re up near Portland or Tualatin, keep an eye out and report it to the cops!
***Originally posted back on March 16th, 2006***
I had to dig this one up only because people haven’t forgotten Gary Merrill. You remember him, right? The poor 50 year old mentally handicapped guy who had his Gyro stolen over near Portland in early March of this year?
We had an anonymous comment informing us of a red Gyro in the Portland area for sale on Craigslist. Check it out here. This one is LOW miles, 1559 to be exact. I don’t know the details on the stolen one other than that it was also red. If it’s the stolen scoot, then maybe justice can be served. If it’s NOT the stolen scoot… then it’s a great deal at $750.
***Below is the original post***
(Stolen 3-wheeled Honda Gyro looked something like this)
Originally from Oreganlive.com
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
KATE TAYLOR
Gary Merrill was crushed and confused when his scooter and only mode of transportation vanished from outside his Tualatin home last week.
The loss of his red, three-wheel scooter last week was especially painful because it gave him some independence. Unable to get a driver’s license, he rode the Honda Gyro three miles from his home to the full-time dishwashing job he has held for 32 years at Tualatin’s Sweetbrier Inn & Suites.
He usually wakes at 5:10 in the morning to prepare for work and was stunned Friday when he went outside to find his scooter gone. Distraught, he told his mother, who called police and spent the day posting fliers about her son’s three-wheeler and offering a reward.
How sick is that? A fifty year old mentally challenged dude… STOKED every morning when he goes out to hop on his little scooter to go wash dishes… Wakes up to find it stolen. Please, if you see a red Honda Gyro around the area there, let the cops know. These aren’t common scooters in the USA, so it should stand out.
Thankfully, the peeps over at Portland Motorcycle hooked him up with a new Schwinn Campus (yes, Schwinn has scooters) and he’s all nice and stokey again.
16. March 2006 at 5:53 pm
The old and storied Schwinn Bicycle Company we knew and loved as kids went bankrupt in 1991. The name is now owned by an importation company that sells Chinese manufactured bicycles at Walmart.
Tom
17. March 2006 at 5:16 am
There was just one that went on ebay. But it looked like a 15 year old barn job. This was in NY but hey you never know. That sucks! If only I lived near him and found the punks that stole his scooter.
17. March 2006 at 12:38 pm
Dirty rotten low down rat b*stards. Kudo’s to the folks that stepped in. I LOATH thieves.
25. June 2006 at 4:41 pm
just saw a red gyro on CRAIGLIST.com site
25. June 2006 at 4:44 pm
and the gyro listing is in portland oregon
26. June 2006 at 5:10 pm
I BOUGHT the one on craigslist. It’s in my garage right now and is NOT the stolen one.
If you see me on it, don’t call the cops.
26. June 2006 at 5:29 pm
Does anyone have any real information on the stolen bike? License plate number, VIN number, something besides “red gyro”. These are more common than you might think, and I’d hate to see a legitimate owner get hassled because his bike is similar to one that has been stolen. 9 times out of 10 a stolen scoot doesn’t get more than 10 blocks from where it was lifted, dude should take a stroll around his neighborhood, look in the ditches.
26. June 2006 at 11:04 pm
I did some research. Talked to the lieutenant and detective on the case and here’s what we’ve got on it.
Red 1986 Honda Gyro TG50
License Plate: OR Plate “MP 13632″
VIN: JH2TB1000GS100876
email Margaret at mlyman@ci.tualatin.or.us
if you see this bike around.