NORFOLK, Va. — Richard Perkins, 37, plead guilty on Tuesday for conspiring to commit and committing grand larceny in an incident last year that a police surveillance camera helped to foil. His co-defendant, Ty Tonioli, 42, was sentenced earlier this year for his role in the same incident.
On Aug. 1, 2023, Tonioli stole an enclosed trailer from Virginia Beach. Over the next nine days, Tonioli and Perkins stole three motorcycles from Norfolk. All the stolen vehicles were entered into the Flock system, which alerts police where certain vehicles end up by tracking license plates.
On Aug. 11, Tonioli was driving east on I-264 in a pickup truck with the stolen trailer attached. Perkins and another person were passengers in the truck.
Norfolk police received an alert on the trailer's license plate, and attempted to pull over Tonioli. But Tonioli fled the traffic stop and continued onto I-64 west, reaching speeds of up to 95 mph. Virginia State Police assisted NPD during the pursuit, which ended when the pickup truck ran out of gas.
Officers were able to detain Tonioli, Perkins and the other passenger. In the stolen trailer were the stolen motorcycles, which Perkins and Tonioli confessed were stolen as well, and Tonioli confessed to stealing the pickup truck he had been driving as well.
Tonioli plead guilty to two counts of grand larceny of an automobile, one count of selling stolen property, and one count of felony eluding, and was sentenced to one year and seven months in prison in January.
Perkins will be sentenced on Dec. 20, and prosecutors are seeking an active sentence of six months in prison and the completion of the Community Corrections Alternative Program.
“Mr. Perkins and Mr. Tonioli were able to steal multiple vehicles in a short time, but the police and the Flock system caught up with them,” said the Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “The responsible use of technology led to the quick arrest and conviction of the people who committed these crimes, all while avoiding unnecessary police-citizen encounters.”
