Wild e-motorcyle chase in downtown Monterey ends in major firearms arrest.

As e-bikes and e-motorcycles have grown in popularity in recent years, so have complaints about them travelling at unsafe speeds in the places often packed with pedestrians, like the Rec Trail, or even busy sidewalks. 

One such incident began with an e-motorcycle riding on a sidewalk in downtown Monterey on Thursday, Jan. 23 just before 4pm, near Alvarado Street and Munras Avenue, and became a police chase, but the suspect got away. And unexpectedly, the incident led Monterey Police to a trove of illegally possessed firearms and the arrest of someone else. 

It’s a wild story, and per a statement put out today by Monterey PD, goes like this: 

The “subject”—the person riding the e-motorcycle—didn’t yield to an officer, who then went into the pursuit. The subject then drove the wrong way along streets at two different downtown intersections, and, “at one point the subject nearly struck a pedestrian and drove through the Custom House Plaza…The subject passed by multiple officers who had activated their emergency lights and siren and/or yelled for him to stop, but he refused. The subject was not apprehended at that time.”

In the ensuing investigation, a 15-year-old male suspect was identified, and at 8am on Wednesday, Feb. 12, Monterey Police officers served a search warrant at a residence on the 500 block of Casanova Avenue. Officers found the e-motorcycle involved in the chase, and received a court order to impound it for 30 days. That statement also adds the minor will be charged with evading a police officer, a felony. 

But also inside the residence, officers found “several unsecured firearms,” and a detective determined that one of the residents of the home, 44-year-old Jeffrey Vandervort Sr., “was prohibited from possessing firearms as a result of a previous felony conviction and a prison sentence.” 

A second search warrant was issued that day, and officers continued their search, and as a result of that warrant, officers “located 20 firearms, ammunition, heroin, and cocaine. A loaded handgun was located unsecured in the closet of a small child’s bedroom and another handgun was located unsecured in a hallway closet.”

Vandervort Sr. was arrested and booked at Monterey County Jail on numerous firearms charges, and possession of a controlled substance. His bail was set at $30,000. 

Monterey Police Lt. Ethan Andrews says the 15-year-old minor was present at the home during the search, but because he is a minor and the felony he’s being charged with is nonviolent, police cannot take him into custody.

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Correction 2/15/25: This story has been corrected from its original version to to reflect the suspect was riding an e-motorcycle, not an e-bike. The Weekly regrets the error.