CLEARFIELD – A Clearfield man pleaded guilty Tuesday to stealing two motorcycles and running from police.
Jeffrey L. Peters, 52, was sentenced by President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman to serve seven months to 14 months in the county jail with two years concurrent probation for felony theft by unlawful taking in two cases and a felony count of fleeing or attempting to elude police with traffic summaries, in a third case.
He must also pay restitution of over $3,400 which includes the fee to extradite him from Florida.
Prior to sentencing, he apologized to the victims.
According to the affidavits, on July 20, 2023, police received a report of a stolen motorcycle from a Curwensville residence. The next day, police spotted the vehicle on Sportsman’s Road in Cooper Township.
They initiated a traffic stop, but the motorcycle failed to yield and a pursuit began.
The bike fled as it violated many traffic rules including stopping at a stop signs. He ended up on Old Turnpike and at the intersection with Trolley Street, he drove into a yard and abandoned the vehicle. He fled on foot. After a brief foot pursuit, he was taken into custody.
In an interview with investigators, he told police that he was given the motorcycle by Denton Best of Curwensville. Best was questioned about this and admitted both he and Peters took the motorcycle from a yard in Curwensville.
Best was sentenced in July for this theft among several other cases including four drug offenses for which he received a state sentence of four to 13 years in state prison from Judge Paul E. Cherry.
In Peters’ second theft case, police received a report that a motorcycle worth approximately $17,000 was stolen from a residence in Clearfield Borough on Sept. 11, 2024.
Surveillance camera footage showed a vehicle drove past the home and dropped off a man, who then walked to the bike and pushed the motorcycle onto the roadway. The theft occurred at 3:30 a.m.
The video also showed that prior to this, the same vehicle had passed the house as if it was checking the home out.
On Sept. 30, an officer in Marion County, Florida, stopped the motorcycle because its registration had expired. The driver, Peters, claimed it belonged to his brother, but the vehicle identification number on the registration, did not match the bike.
The officer noticed the ignition was punched out and damaged. He ran the actual VIN which confirmed the motorcycle had been stolen. Peters was taken into custody.
When the victim got it back, he noted that it had major damage including the damaged ignition, with other damage to the fuel cap lock and seat compartment lock along with multiple scratches.
The victim also reported he received information that Peters had been staying at a South Fourth Street residence in the borough before the theft. Officers responded there and saw a vehicle in the driveway that matched the one who had left the suspect off at the victim’s home in the surveillance video.
The owner of this vehicle told police he remembered dropping Peters off in that area but thought he was dating someone that lived near there. He further stated that after that night, Peters rented a U-Haul box truck and left for Florida. He denied ever seeing the motorcycle on his property or in the U-Haul truck.
