DORCHESTER— A targeted Boston Police enforcement operation on a Dorchester residence Wednesday night turned up nine mopeds, an "overwhelming odor of gasoline," and three suspects — none of whom, BPD alleges, had any business storing the bikes there in the first place.

Officers from District B-3, the Auto Theft Unit, and the Youth Violence Strike Force converged on 11 Kenberma Road around 8:13 p.m. on May 13, according to Boston Police. The op was the latest piece of an ongoing push against scooter and moped chaos in the area — bikes ridden without registration, stored where they shouldn't be, and, increasingly, allegedly hot.

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Officers watched one man leave the Kenberma Road address on a moped, the release says. He came back shortly after with two more riders, also on mopeds. Officers approached as the three of them made for the basement.

Inside, BPD says, was the stash: several mopeds in various states of repair, the smell of gasoline hanging heavy in the air. Eight bikes downstairs. A ninth out back. None properly registered. None properly stored. All, according to police, with exposed wiring and damaged ignitions consistent with theft.

Eight of the mopeds were towed. The ninth was allowed to stay on the premises.

The three suspects — Kelvin Afonseca Varela, 18, of Jamaica Plain; Jayden Theodat, 18, of Roslindale; and a 16-year-old juvenile male from Dorchester — are expected to be arraigned in Dorchester District Court on charges of Unlicensed Operation of a Motor Vehicle and Receiving Stolen Property. They were also issued Massachusetts Uniform Citations for auto-law violations.

Three arrested as BPD finds nine mopeds — and an 'overwhelming odor of gasoline' — in Dorchester basement

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