A Silver Springs man with a long history of burglary and dealing in stolen property is in the Marion County Jail for allegedly stealing a motorcycle from a storage shed and selling it for $500.
James Efrem Cash, 30, of 5740 SE 183rd Terrace, was arrested Thursday and charged with burglary of an unoccupied dwelling. According to jail records, he has six previous arrests since 2009 on dozens of counts of burglary, grand theft, and dealing in stolen property.
A Marion County sheriff’s deputy responded Monday to a residence on SE 17th Place, where the victim reported he had put his black 2011 Harley-Davidson Sportster 883 in the shed on Aug. 26. At around 8:30 a.m. Monday, he noticed the lock was missing and the motorcycle was gone, according to the sheriff’s office report.
The victim found the Master lock in the front yard and it was not cut. However, it was difficult to get his key inside it, leading the victim to believe it had been “picked” by the burglar. The victim said during the third week of July, he had been approached by several white men inquiring about the motorcycle. He couldn’t remember them or their vehicle, but he said one of the men said he was called “Shorty,” the report said.
An eyewitness contacted the deputy on Tuesday, saying he saw Cash loading the motorcycle into the back of a white Ford F150 extended cab pickup truck. The witness said he knows Cash and he had seen a photo of the stolen motorcycle and could positively identify it because of the custom work done to it, according to the report.
On Wednesday, a sheriff’s office lieutenant arrested a man named William Curtis in reference to a fleeing and eluding case that involved the motorcycle. Curtis said he bought the motorcycle from James Cash for $500, the report said.
On Thursday, the deputy located Cash at a residence on SE 26th Street in Ocklawaha. Cash denied knowing anything about the motorcycle being stolen, but he saw a red motorcycle was getting loaded into a white Ford F150 extended cab pickup truck, which matched the description of the one the witness saw Cash loading the motorcycle into, according to the report.
Cash was being held Saturday on $5,000 bond. He’s scheduled to appear in Marion County Court on Oct. 15.