Book Em Danno!

Above are the pictures of the "get away" vehicle, the boys chasing them down, and the inside of the boat, you couldn't even stand up in it.


Tuesday, May 4th, 2010. CHING CHING....(sorry watched too much Law and Order..haha).

At approximately 6:30 am, Neil opened the entry doors as he normally does first thing in the morning to let in the crispy morning air while making his lovely wife and himself a pot of coffee. He looked out on the back, as he typically does, and took a quick check of things....something was NOT alright. Our hard bottom zodiac with our Yamaha 15hp 4 stroke attached was missing. Neil yelled for all of us to hop up and look around the dock to see if perhaps it was not tied up properly. After Katie and I took off on foot, the boys got in our other roll up inflatable and put the 2 hp engine on the back. This one was a little low and we realized that the pump for it was also in the other skiff. Neil and Stewart buzzed around the marina and saw nothing.

Neil and Stewart came back in and grabbed a phone, some extra gasoline, and the binoculars. They set back out to go and look around Brooks Island. Boats have washed up there before, maybe if it did untie, it was there. They happened to see way off in the distance, a boat, with no mast, going fast, towing a zodiac. They pulled out the binoculars, and saw the Yamaha pushing this ugly little sailboat, towing our inflatable.

To backtrack just a bit, a few days earlier, while on a little skiff ride, we noticed a gentlemen with a derelict looking sailboat that had its mast on the deck. He was powering it around with a tiny little electric trolling motor off the back and an old aluminum boat on the top deck. We thought he looked a bit out of place, but hey, we try not to judge. The day we went sailing with Bob, we noticed the same boat was anchored over by the old ferry terminal at the entrance of the Richmond Chanel. Again, very odd.

This man had stolen our boat, while we were sleeping. Neil and Stewart continued to trail behind him. They were in the little dinghy and were not able to even come close to catching up with the little 2 hp. engine. Then the guy spotted them and knowing good and well that the other dinghy that was tied up next to the one he took was coming after him. He wrapped out the engine and tried to move the dinghy onto his boat...this is not an easy task as it is a heavy boat...so Neil and Stew pretended to not be interested and went the opposite direction to throw him off. After all, they did not want him to become spooked and "Davey Jones" the engine and sink the skiff. They went around the back side of Brooks Island and watched him go into the Berkeley Marina with the binoculars. Neil called me and told me to head for Berkeley. I called the harbormasters office and told him that our skiff was stolen and they seemed to be rather excited to start looking at surveillance tapes. This new camera system has really cheesed off a lot of people who don't like being watched. I too, wasn't fond of losing foot beat security, to replace people with technology, but this was going to change that...or so they said.

Katie and I walked quickly back around the Richmond Marina to the car. We were still looking on every dock and had not heard the news of the "pursuit" yet. Anxious to get over to the Marina and catch this guy, I had to watch it on the freeway. Adrenaline pumping and whoops, I am doing 85 mph! Surprisingly, I was not the only one, it is California after all. haha.

10:45 am.

The boys finally arrive at the marina with just enough gas to circle around the marina. We know he's here, but where. We ran into an old acquaintance named John. John was at the Marina in Richmond for a long time and became known as the "Mayor of F Dock." His business was to know your business. This was a good and a bad thing...needless to say he was persuaded to move on...and there he was at the launching ramp in Berkeley. So I asked him, "Have you seen any mast less boats berthed over here?" He was eager to point us to two specific docks to check out. We thanked him and the boys headed over by water while Katie and I hopped in the car to drive to the other side. Within 15 minutes Neil and Stewart found the boat. Parked right in front of the Harbormasters office, with our boat still tied to the back, the engine still attached to his pile of crap and he had her all locked up.

Neil called and told me to head to the Harbormasters office to let them know and to call the police. The harbormaster, Anne, was a bit taken back when I told her..."and it’s right over there." Neil had seen what looked like a Sherriff, but instead was fish and game. They told him what was going on while I was talking to the office. The Fish and Game Deputy told him he had just seen that suspicious looking character come in and thought something was up. An old crappy boat and brand new engine and dinghy?? So he offered to detain him with "bullshit" while the police came. He told us to stay away so we didn't spook him.

11:00am.

I call the Berkeley Police Department. I told them what happened. It took them a while to understand that the stuff was stolen, we had found it, we wanted help from them to have it returned, and we needed them to come quickly so the guy didn't take off with it again. Come to find out this "turd" (as one of the policeman called him), had been in and out of the Marina, they had kicked him off the docks a couple of times. He had pulled in that morning and told them he would "be back around 1 o 'clock," and that he "had a pot of gold to cash in." We found out within a few minutes that our employee and good friend Doug, had had his table saw stolen that night also. Perhaps this and some of the other missing tools was in fact his "pot of gold."

The police told me that before they could do anything that I would have to call Richmond Police Department and file a stolen property report, get a case number, than they could cross reference the records, and send someone out......Crazy right? So that is what I did. Neil and Stewart parked the other boat around the corner. The fish and game guy, kept his eye out. We had the guys description now from the Harbormaster..."White guy, brown shirt, brown shorts, with a brown Chihuahua.." The fish and game guy looked at Neil and said..."Hmmm, sounds like you. You'd better lay low." Funny! Neil was wearing almost the same clothes and yep, we have a brown Chihuahua...

12:00pm.

After getting impatient, I called the Richmond Police Department back two more times. They kept telling me to wait for a phone call from an officer..By the third call I made they assured me it would be "very soon, Mamm." Hey I know that no one was being murdered, but this was my stuff, our soon to be "water taxi." It was $4500 of my stuff just sitting there and I wanted it back, damnit! The worst thing was to sit and wait, especially for Neil. You know how guys are and at some point it was, "Tiff, call the police and tell them that if they don't show up soon and this guy shows up, that I will be beating the shit out of him, than taking my stuff back..they may want to be here for that." Ha ha.

1:00pm.

Richmond calls. The officer is puzzled why the Berkeley Police has done nothing. "You guys have caught him, followed him, found him...it's a no brainer." He was terribly sorry and offered to drive down from Richmond to Berkeley to take care of it himself. He understood that the guy could come back and freak out and ditch our engine overboard...yada yada yada...like we had been worried about. He gave a case number and said, "call them, give them this # and I will call you back in 5 minutes. If they don't do anything I will let the chief know that we are coming over to take this guy down." (He was a bit annoyed as well by the Berkeley PD.).

1:10 pm.

I call Berkeley PD.(now shortened because of all the phone calls and such...."perp" is now in my vocabulary as well as "the accused"...sheesh!). After a very rude dispatcher yells at me for not coming into the police department..I yell right back at her and tell her to get her superior on the phone, NOW! The lady comes on that I had talked to earlier and I said, "Here is your case number, it is after 1:00pm. The guy will be here soon and I need you here to be of assistance!" She told me that they would come down, but if the guy was not there, they could do nothing unless they were to get a warrant.....

1:12 pm.

Richmond Officer Vigil calls back. I tell him what was happening. He asked when they were going to arrive. I told him I didn't know. He said he was getting his captain on the phone now with Berkeley PD.

1:15 pm.

Steve, the Harbormaster from Marina Bay in Richmond, shows up and pulls in next to our car, to my surprise. He is here to put up flyers for the upcoming "boaters swap meet" at our Marina later this month. We have a brief chat about the goings on, when low and behold.....here comes the perp! At first this man stops in front of my car. He is staring at Katie, than me and Steve. At first I didn't think about it until I see, brown shirt, brown shorts....Daisy is barking now...brown Chihuahua! So I realize then that Katie is nudging her head like, "look...LOOK!..It’s the guy!". He passes by and I tell Steve..gotta go.

1:17 pm.

(I only know the time, because I have been religiously watching the clock..). No cops yet. The guy heads down to his boat. I call Neil. "He's here." I head for the office. Just before I get there, an officer is walking up the steps into the office. The Berkeley Police are finally here! They came around the back way, no lights , no sirens.

1:20 pm.

Three more patrol cars show up. The "perp" is being detained by the Fish and Game guy, with his "bullshit." The police get a quick heads up of the situation and head down. Neil and Stewart are in the office now. We are told to stay put. Katie comes over and there we all are, standing up in the walkway of the Harbormasters Office Ramp. The guy see's us. The RIFE'S. Faces full of Piss and Vinegar! Neil still has a scary look on his face; I DO think he would have beaten the shit out of him like he said!

1:22 pm.

Richmond calls. Officer Vigil asks if they showed up. I said yes. He says for them to call him asap. I look over and the man is in cuffs.

1:35 pm.

A Berkeley Officer, a very nice gentlemen, Officer Kawana, comes up and asks if we can correctly identify our property, asks for tell tale signs and certain markings that distinguish it as our property. Now we have to prove it is our stuff! After pointing out several visual markings..(ie. The blue paint from our boat that had rubbed onto the dinghy at anchorage...also matched the little one...etc...). They confirmed it was our stuff. The gentleman, the “turd”, has a record. He is in violation of his parole. He has a warrant out on him also. He has a lot of stolen tools, our stolen property, and because he stole it from our "home" he could face double charges for burglary or grand theft auto (it has an engine and is registered with the DMV). Because he is in violation of parole, he freaks out a bit. This means he is going to the State Prison for a minimum of 1 year. This does not include any new charges.

1:45 pm.

They bring the "turd" up the ramp. He is to walk by us. We all want to stare him in the eye. Neil wants to ask him if it was worth it......He asks the policeman to go through the other gate. They take him through the other gate. He wouldn't walk past us. Guilty conscious, I suppose.

1:55 pm.

Animal Control shows up to take the Chihuahua. She looks a lot like Daisy. She is shaking and looking for her owner. They put one of those "control leashes" around her neck....it is absurd...the lady finally pets her, and she is picked up and carried. She was sweet; she will have a good home. Her name was "Nibbler." (that’s what the collar said anyway).

2:00 pm. to 3:00 pm.

We sit in the office with Officer Kawana, who is taking our statement. He tells us how this never happens. He can't believe his own writing. We saw the man with binoculars...we crossed the bay in hot pursuit, we tracked him down, and we caught him...all in one day!

3:15 pm.

We realize the regular Officer that runs around the Marina in Berkeley is none other than Tom Jeremiason, Lori's husband. They spoke highly of him. I told the officer that I was friends with his wife. I have seen his picture but never met him. I said "they are getting ready to cruise soon too." He said, "I know!! He won't shut up about it!" Hahaha Small world.

3:30 pm.

We go aboard the boat to look for Doug's tools. Not there. He may have taken them in that morning to sell somewhere. We ask the officer about pawn shops, but there are none in Berkeley..Someone got them. Hopefully they show up. Either way we will make it right.

Almost 4 pm.

The boys hop in the skiff, put the engine back on. We are missing our CF numbers, our bellows pump and a few other little things from the skiff, but its ok. The engine has been worked hard and was maybe swamped with salt water. It starts after a few good pulls. Neil says, "no worries, we'll clean her out at home."

They head back towing the little one behind. The boys made it back within the hour, but were a bit wet since the waves had picked up and the wind was not in their favor.

5 ish.

The friends on our dock sing our praises and invite us to the Boiler house for tacos and beer.

We oblige.

5:30 pm. to 11:00 pm.

We tell our tales, we laugh, we celebrate, and we appreciate and are thankful for everything. Friends, Colleagues , Family....all together.

I must say that it was certainly quite the adventure, one that I hope I won't be repeating anytime soon. People always ask us if we are afraid of "Pirates"....nope, just "TURDS!"

P.S. They found nothing on the surveillance tapes!