A man seen riding his bike, holding a fishing pole and wearing flip-flops is wanted by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office for attempting to steal an outboard motor from a boat at the Treasure Coast Rowing Club in Palm City early Sunday morning.
“I just think it’s a shame because he’s taking a motor that’s used to coach children. Middle school and high school kids” said Chris Kammel, a rowing coach at the club.
On surveillance video, you see the man ride up, and climb through a small opening on the side of the fence and make his way into the boatyard. Once inside, he takes a Yamaha motor worth about $2,000 dollars off the boat.
Nationally, Yamaha’s are the most common boats stolen, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Florida is the most common state for boat thefts.
In Martin County, the sheriff’s office says outboard motor thefts happen year round, from dry docked boats. Their helicopter’s a great tool to defend against it. There’s a video of the chopper showing two suspects attempting to take an outboard motor before they were scared off by the helicopter noise.
Back at the rowboat yard, they set up cameras after someone broke in last year.
“We got infrared so we can see at night just to protect the assets,” Kammel said.
The suspect loosens the 150-pound motor from the boat but realizes he has a problem.
“So there’s no way he’s getting over a 15-foot fence,” he said.
He puts the motor down and calls it a night.
“It’s almost like he looks at the camera and realized he was being filmed and chose to abort,” he said.
Often times in Martin County the criminals are from the Miami and Ft. Lauderdale area but they believe this guy is local since he was on his bike.
If you recognize him, call the sheriff’s office.