Cycle shop break-in suspect found incompetent

Yahoo

17-05-2025

GOSHEN — A Granger man accused of smashing up a motorcycle dealership with a bat will receive mental health treatment after he was found incompetent to stand trial.
Adrian Graves, 34, is charged with burglary as a Level 5 felony after his arrest in January 2024. Police said he broke into Hoosier Harley-Davidson, 720 W. Bristol St., on Jan. 8, 2024, and caused an estimated $8,700 worth of damage with a baseball bat.
That included breaking a glass door in order to get into the business and destroying four glass display cases containing eyewear plus a total of around 75 pairs of protective eyewear, police said. Graves also allegedly poured motor oil on the floor and threw shoes out through the front door.
Graves swore at a judge after being ordered into mental health treatment at a state hospital on Thursday. Elkhart County Circuit Court Judge Michael Christofeno determined that Graves is not competent to stand trial based on one examiner's opinion, which was the only one under discussion because Graves allegedly refused to cooperate further.
The doctor reported that Graves made statements that 'were not factual or clearly rational,' according to the judge. Christofeno chose not to hold Graves in contempt for the outburst.
Graves insisted during the hearing that he was competent and there was no need for the evaluations in the first place. He also told the judge he had fired his attorney weeks earlier, though court records do not reflect the claim.
Police allegedly found Graves still in the building and arrested him without incident. He claimed that he recently learned he had inherited the business and that someone named Junior told him he could break in since he owned it, according to police.
He allegedly said he smashed the display cases because he wanted to remove anything that wasn't 'real Harley-Davidson.'
Russ Saputo, general manager at Hoosier Harley-Davidson, said Graves was a former customer who completed an application for employment days earlier.
'He seemed like a nice enough guy – maybe a little off, but a nice guy,' Saputo said. 'We can only speculate about his motivation.'