The theft of a 24-metre fishing vessel from Westport in Washington State took police by surprise – as well as the crew of the Jamie Marie, who assumed the newcomer on board was there with good reason when he rousted them out and told them to get ready to sail.
The man was a stranger to the crew. But as he appeared to know his business, they assumed was someone sent by the regular skipper and didn’t figure anything was wrong until Jamie Marie had transited onto the Grays Harbor bar, ready to for the open sea. Hearing the newcomer talk about meeting a ‘Chinese mothership’ rang alarm bells, and a call to the regular skipper revealed that the man had stolen the trawler with its crew on board.
The impostor skipper and the boat were eventually brought back to port to be Sgt. Alexander and Sgt. Mathews of the Westport Police Department. The man was found to be in possession of $4000 in cash and a large quantity of individually weighed and packaged marijuana.
The investigation revealed that the same person had boarded another large vessel in the early morning hours and managed to start the main engines and was attempting to rally the crew for a trip to sea. They threw the man off the boat, but only reported the incident once news of Jamie Marie’s escapade became common knowledge.
The fake skipper has been charged with a number of offences.
