South Fulton County

Thief steals dirt bike during test drive

SOUTH FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — A family is urging people to be careful about selling anything online. Someone rode off with their expensive dirt bike during a test drive.

David and Karen Flores wanted $2,100 for it, and after placing an ad on Facebook Marketplace, they had an interested buyer.

"We decided to go down and meet him because he said he was a young guy," David Flores said.

That meant making the long drive from Cleveland, Georgia, to South Fulton. Text messages show the original plan was to meet at a Publix, but the potential buyer made a last-minute change.

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“We got to Spaghetti Junction, and he hit me with a text that says, ‘Is it OK if you meet me at my house?” Karen Flores said.

When the young man and a passenger pulled up, Karen says she felt a little uneasy.

“There was no tag on that car,” she said.

The Floreses say the young man asked to test drive the bike, but instead of just taking it for a spin, he took off.

“He was probably 400 or 500 feet away from me. That’s when he took off,” she said. “The minute I opened the driver door, the car that had been sitting there the whole time took off. Just took off,” she said.

The couple filed a report with the South Fulton Police Department but say there’s no sign of their son’s bike.

“The scary thing is, they’re giving fake addresses of nice homes where people like us would feel safe to go to make these exchanges,” David Flores said.

Still David found it in his heart to send a text message to the young man that stole from him that said,

“At first I was mad but God loves you and me just the same.” Then he said, “I forgive you.“

“I am angry, don’t get me wrong, but he was young. You know, we all do wrong,” David said.

South Fulton police said this type of thing happens quite often in metro Atlanta. They said they advise anyone buying and selling online to meet at a police precinct to make an exchange.