A CCS/SW racer has been sentenced to 30 days in jail and two years probation for operating along with his son an ongoing motorcycle theft ring that involved high-end, high-performance sportbikes, Arizona court officials said. Raymond Corey Hymer, 52, of Avondale, Arizona, also was ordered not to engage in any business “buying or selling motorcycles or motorcycle parts after August 1, 2010 and during the duration of his probation,” said William FitzGerald, spokesman for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. Hymer was found guilty by a jury of one count of Conducting a Chop Shop, a class 2 felony offense, for possessing a motorcycle with an altered vehicle identification number, FitzGerald said. In an e-mail to roadracingworld.com, CCS/SW spokesman and principal Patrick Bertinelli said that Hymer will no longer be allowed to participate in the club’s events. Hymer’s son, Steven Ray Hymer, 29, of Avondale, Arizona, was sentenced to five years in prison on January 20, 2010. Steven Hymer, initially charged with 50 counts, had pleaded guilty on November 6, 2009 to a single Class 2 Felony charge of Conducting a Chop Shop, according to Maricopa County court records. According to the official CCS/SW website, Steven Hymer finished 18th overall in the club’s 2009 standings. The Hymers were arrested in March 2006 after a multi-jurisdictional task force spent seven months investigating allegations that they were involved in stealing and reselling motorcycles and parts. At the time, the task force served search warrants on five different locations in Chandler, Phoenix, El Mirage and Avondale. The task force dubbed the investigation “Operation M.C. Hymer,” official records show. According to Arizona Department of Public Safety documents, agents recovered “39 stolen motorcycles and components, four stolen trailers, tools and equipment, computers and documents used for facilitating the criminal operations and a multitude of motorcycles that had the vehicle identification numbers (VIN) ground off. Additional motorcycles were seized with re-stamped false VIN numbers. Most of the stolen motorcycles were high end; high performance sport-racing bikes which in addition to the other seized items had a total value of $1,000,000.00 for the recovered stolen property.” Both Hymers were charged with multiple counts of theft of means, trafficking in stolen property, conspiracy, operating a chop shop, and Steven Hymer was additionally charged with being a prohibited possessor of a firearm, with a shotgun and handgun found in his possession, state records indicate. Ray Hymer attempted to defend his reputation in a thread on the WERA BBS, which at post time had evolved into a 73-page epic running from January into May 2010, complete with postings apparently made by Ray Hymer, proclaiming his innocence; Steven Hymer’s mother, defending Steven Hymer; and a motorcycle theft victim who testified in Ray Hymer’s trial. Read it here: ~http://forums.13x.com/showthread.php?t=241382~