By David Swarts Vesrah Suzuki Team Owner Mark Junge has recovered the racebikes, extra engines and spare parts he claims he was defrauded out of by a man using the name Ty Lewis but who is also known as (a.k.a.) Trivillus Harris and Trivillus Lewis. The saga started in April when Lewis contacted Junge via e-mail asking to purchase two retired AMA-spec GSX-R600 racebikes, extra engines and spare parts. A deal was struck, and Lewis sent Junge a cashier’s check for $30,000 on April 25. The next day Junge and his crew crated up the bikes, engines and parts and shipped them to Virginia, where Lewis said he was doing business for his Miami, Florida-based motorcycle shop. Two days after shipping the bikes Junge learned from his bank that the check was a forgery, and he immediately contacted his local police. Junge later contacted Roadracingworld.com, which published the first of several articles on the alleged scam May 9. The publicity activated an army of fans and friends of Vesrah Suzuki and even attracted the attention of other alleged victims of Lewis (a.k.a. Trivillus Lewis, a.k.a. Trivillus Harris) who had absolutely no connection to the motorcycle or road racing communities. Many of these people shared information on the WERA BBS, and it was learned there that on May 4 Lewis was arrested in Virginia after being stopped for traffic violations. Lewis, age 38, whose real legal name is Trivillus Marquiso Harris, is currently incarcerated at the Pamunkey Regional Jail, in Hanover, Virginia, facing “two counts of obtaining money by false pretense and two counts of forging bank notes,” according to Adam L. Bernstein, Public Information Officer/Spokesman, Virginia Beach Police Department. “On Sunday morning [May 15] before practice [at Infineon Raceway] I got an e-mail from Trivillus’ girlfriend,” Junge told Roadracingworld.com. “It was weird because it didn’t seem like she knew the bikes were stolen, only that she knew he was in jail and that he wouldn’t need the bikes because he would be in jail. “She had me call her and in talking to her I think she was putting two and two together, like, hey, these bikes are stolen, because I was so happy and thanking her. She may have known, but after that she was apologizing to me.” The girlfriend directed Junge to where the racebikes were located, and Junge accepted an offer from long-time racing friend Tim Bemisderfer (who lives in southern Pennsylvania) to retrieve the bikes for him. But even with copies of the bikes’ MSOs (Manufacturer’s Statement of Origin) in hand and a police escort getting the bikes back did not go smoothly. “I didn’t realize if a motorcycle has an MSO and not a state title, if it gets put up as a stolen vehicle it doesn’t get processed in every state,” said Junge. “So those bikes didn’t show up in Virginia as stolen. So it took three or four hours before my Sheriff’s Department [Racine County] and the Virginia police could verify those were my bikes and they were stolen. The [Virginia] police told us they were already over there once and the bikes didn’t come up as stolen.” In the end, Bemisderfer was able to reclaim both of Vesrah Suzuki’s GSX-R600s (which had been uncrated) and the two spare engines and collection of spare parts (which were still in their crates). “When he [Lewis/Harris] got arrested I was thinking, ‘I’m happy he got arrested,’ but I didn’t think I was getting my bikes back,” said Junge. “I still can’t believe I got it all back. If it wasn’t for you guys at Roadracingworld.com and everyone on the WERA BBS there’s no way I would’ve got my bikes back. So we’re throwing a party at Road America for everyone who wants to come by and celebrate with us.”