Police: Social media helps Horry Co. custom shop owner track down stolen motorcycles in Charleston

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - Two men are facing charges after Charleston police recovered four stolen custom motorcycles Tuesday night in West Ashley that were reported stolen out of Horry County, according to an incident report.

Anthony Lee, 32, and Tyre Rouse, 35, have both been charged with four counts of possession of stolen motor vehicles.

Just before 9 p.m. Tuesday night, officers responded to call in which a citizen said he was following a stolen trailer that was being pulled by a Ford F-350 and was entering the West Ashley area, according to an incident report.

Officers stopped the truck with Lee and Rouse inside, the report stated. Lee claimed that he was taking Rouse to Charleston from Columbia and he planned on leaving the trailer in Charleston and said that he rode motorcycles regularly. Rouse told officers that he had just gotten in the truck and that he needed a ride from Columbia to Charleston because he was a tractor-trailer driver and was on a break, the report stated.

Lee’s license came back suspended and one officer told him they were stopped because there was suspicion the trailer didn’t belong to him, the report stated. When officers opened the truck, they found the four custom Harley Davidson motorcycles as well as various motorcycle parts inside the trailer valued at $160,000, according to the report. All the motorcycles came back as stolen.

The man who reported the trailer to police said he was notified through Facebook that the trailer had possibly been seen traveling on I-26 toward Charleston then saw the trailer near I-26 and I-526 and began to follow it and called 911, the report stated.

The owner of the motorcycles, Gregory Hickman, who owns Hickman Customs in Horry County then arrived at the scene. Hickman’s Facebook posts about the thefts had gained significant traction on social media with over 4,000 shares.

“It was Sunday morning at 3 a.m.,” Hickman said Tuesday night in an exclusive interview with Live 5. “I was very very upset, it was like a quarter million worth of stuff taken out of my shop...They actually stole stuff out of my shop, loaded it into my trailer and then stole my trailer and my stuff and took it out of my shop.”

Hickman was elated that his motorcycles were found.

“I’m super happy," he said. "Super happy, hated that it happened but super happy the social media community and everybody helped me track down my stuff and it makes you know that there is good people in the world.”

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