UMaine Public Safety busts bike ‘chop shop’

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Four University of Maine students have been accused of stealing bicycles from the University of Vermont and selling the bike parts in Orono, totaling more than $2,000 in lost property. On Nov. 23, 2003, Daniel Jassey, 19, Flann O’Brien, 20, and Mark Phelps, 18, were charged with four counts of receiving stolen property. Another student, Matthew Neives, 18, was charged with one count of receiving stolen property.

In early November, UMaine Public Safety received a tip from students about the bike thefts, and investigated the case for approximately two weeks before executing a search warrant on Nov. 23, 2003, said Public Safety Officer Amy Nickerson, who began the investigation.

Jassey, O’Brien, Phelps and Neives were apprehended by 12 officers soon after returning from UVM. The students did not have any bikes with them, but bikes and bike parts were discovered in their dorms. Public Safety seized four bikes with serial numbers matching those stolen from UVM, Nickerson said.

“We found four bikes, but we know there were a lot more than that,” Nickerson said. In addition to the bikes found in the rooms, officers also found marijuana in the rooms of Jassey, O’Brien and Phelps. In one room, they also found psilocybin mushrooms.

Whether the suspects stole bikes from UMaine and sold them at UVM is uncertain. It is suspected that the men took the bikes from UVM and stripped them for parts on the way back to Orono, Nickerson said. Public Safety knows of at least one complete bike has been sold on this campus, Nickerson said.

“We are still investigating the location of the stolen bike from UVM [which] we know was sold on campus,” Nickerson said. “If the person who purchased the bike was willing to bring it to the station, they would not be looking at criminal charges. We are also looking for anyone else who might have [information].”

Jassey was a student at UVM last year, which may explain why the suspects chose to take bikes from that school, Nickerson said.

Nickerson wished to thank UMaine students for their help in the investigation.

“This was good teamwork, not only with the officers but with the students, because without their help, this case would not have been solved,” Nickerson said.

The men will be arraigned in 3rd District Court in Bangor on Feb. 20.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 19th, 2004, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.