By Sharon Coolidge
and Jane Prendergast
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Examples of custom rims hang on the wall at Big Papa's on Red Bank Road in Madisonville. (Ernest Coleman photo)

Timothy Powell Jr. loved his white 1968 Oldsmobile Cutlass, spending hours dressing it up with racing flag decals and $4,000 of 20-inch gold custom rims.

Jerome Brown and six of his friends also loved it, Hamilton County prosecutors say. So much so that Brown, 19, is accused of rounding up his buddies in Dayton, Ohio, and driving to Cincinnati, casing Powell's car in the Club Ritz parking lot and following him to Madisonville, where police say Brown killed him.

"It was a flashy car and it had fancy gold rims that attracted attention," Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor Brad Greenberg said during Brown's aggravated murder trial in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court this week. "Unfortunately the night of Sept. 17, 2001, it attracted the wrong type of attention."

Brown has denied the robbery and killing.

Othello Harrell, 22, convicted and sentenced to spend 12 years in prison for his role in Powell's death, testified Thursday that he, Brown and the others choose Powell's rims because he wanted to sell his Buick, and he knew adding flashy rims would increase the value.

Sparkling, spinning and other high-end tire rims for cars and trucks increasingly have become a target for thieves, which have led to assaults and occasionally death in Ohio and in cities across the nation.

While it remains relatively rare for violence to erupt over custom car wheels in Cincinnati, police elsewhere have seen a spate of violence this year connected with the expensive accessory:

• Indianapolis police have linked three killings to attempted thefts of wheel rims in the last year.

• James Gordon, 27, was shot to death in Dayton, Ohio, three weeks ago by a man who commented about the rims on his 1987 Ford Thunderbird at an intersection, police said. No arrests have been made.

• In March, a 24-year-old college student was shot and killed while trying to steal expensive tire rims off a Cadillac in Sacramento, Calif.

• An off-duty sheriff's deputy in Florida was slain in April by thieves trying to steal Cadillac tire rims, according to the Broward County Sheriff's Office in Fort Lauderdale.

In Cincinnati, it's more common that thieves target rim shops, which was a topic at a regional meeting of police investigators this week.

"As far as somebody jacking up the car, taking the rims and hurting somebody, no, that's not happening,'' said Lt. Steve Wilger, a Cincinnati police supervisor.

Detectives can't say how many stolen cars are taken solely for rims that sometimes are worth more than the car itself. Cincinnati Detective Jeff Schare, vice president of the Ohio Auto Theft Investigators Association, said he doesn't think thieves looking to steal rims commit many of the city's auto thefts.

"We've had a few of them where the person will report their rims stolen and then six months later, they'll call us and say, "Hey, I saw somebody driving with my rims,'" Schare said. "But they can't prove the rims are theirs."

Symbols of status

Dubs, blades, shoes, sneakers, twinkies - street slang for custom wheels - are status symbols, made popular by athletes and rap stars.

Take Davin Wheels, a Rhode Island-based company that makes rims that continue spinning when the car stops. Clients include NBA stars Allen Iverson and Shaquille O'Neal and rapper Master P and Nelly, who used the wheels in his Air Force Ones video.

Rims have never been more popular, according to Davin Wheels sales statistics. In 2001, the company's first full year of operation, sales totaled $1.2 million. Last year, revenue hit $3.6 million and this year sales are on track to hit $8.5 million.

Powell had bought the rims that authorities said got him killed from Big Papa's Audio on Red Bank Road.

"It's sad that somebody would do that just for rims," said Scott Burke, who works at the store, where more than two dozen custom wheels are displayed on a wall like silver sculpture.

The rims range from 13-inch to 26-inch - the size 26-year-old Burke has on his truck tires.

"I like them because they attract attention at car shows," he said

And with each passing year the diameter grows.

One of the largest makers of custom wheels in the nation is Dayton Wheel Products, north of Dayton, Ohio.

"The most popular product we sell is wire wheels for cars and trucks, with the last two or three years being a big growth time," said Charlie Schroeder, the company's owner.

During the summer, Burke said Big Papa's sells a set of custom wheels almost every day.

"It's all about status, about personal expression," Schroeder said. "It's like jewelry for your car.

"Whether (a person) has the income to buy them or gets them through other means, it's all about rolling down the street with a 'look at me' attitude," Schroeder added.

All sorts of cars

Burke said Big Papa's has put custom wheels on cars from Geo Metros to H2 Hummers and Mercedes Benzes.

"People of all ages want them," Burke said. "Not just young people, although they are the most popular with young people."

Customers are well aware of the risk of theft they take when they buy rims, Burke said.

He knows plenty of customers who have had their car stolen and believes the thief was after one thing - the custom wheels.

Powell was different, Burke said: "Usually thieves just pop cars, strip them and leave them in Dayton. People aren't hurt.''

E-mail scoolidge@enquirer.com and jprendergast@enquirer.com