Re: [Paddlewise] Stolen Mariner Escape Recovered

On Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 8:00 AM, Jackie Myers <jackie_at_muddypuppies.com>wrote:

>
>
> Great news!  Thanks for the report.  Was there any consideration by LE to
> charge him with theft since he actually admitted that he took it from
> private property?  Did he give a reason why he didn't report it to
> authorities since he says he thought it was stolen? (of course, he *knew* it
> was stolen)


As far as I can tell he made no attempt to locate the "rightful owner". He
certainly knew it wasn't his. He just waited six months and put the items up
for sale on craigslist. One might almost think he was waiting for the heat
to go off.

We could have charged him with theft but the criminal case was weakened when
we went onto his property and seized the kayak. State laws vary but in
general if an item is in "plain view" then it's fair game for seizure by law
enforcement (at least in Washington). Our problem was that in order to see
the kayak (to have it in "plain view") we had to go up to his place of
business (in a shed in a yard at the back of the house). The deputy went to
the door of the business looking for the seller (who was not there). Once he
was at that door he then look to his right and saw the kayak. He examined
the kayak enough to make him think that it was my kayak. At that point he
asked his prosecutor and received permission (e.g.: that it was legal) to
take me to the business location and show me the kayak and allow me to
identify it to the deputy's satisfaction.

At this point we had some options... but only one of them included me taking
the kayak home right then. Remember that I'm 5 hours from home and across a
major mountain range, it's winter, and if you remember just a couple of
weeks ago the Puget Sound area was isolated by storms... every land route
was blocked. I was also concerned that in order to charge the seller with a
crime it might have been necessary to keep my kayak and associated equipment
as evidence of the crime instead of letting me paddle it around. So I
decided that since I had come to that point with the desire of regaining my
property that I'd just take it home with me and not pursue it any more. The
seller had already assured over the phone that he was convinced that it was
my kayak so I was within my rights as the owner of the property to seize it.

Once the kayak was identified as my stolen property then taking it was
merely restoring my property to me.

Had the kayak been inside a building, or hidden in a shed, or not in "plain
view" from a point at which a person could reasonably have been without
trespassing, then we would have had to wait for the seller to come give us
permission to enter his property. It was unlikely that we could keep a
deputy on site for the 4 or 5 hours it would take for the seller to get off
work.

>
> Well, at least you have it back mostly in original shape.


With any luck Matt will have some ideas about replacing the seat slide.

>
> A big thanks to Matt for his efforts to recover/report stolen kayaks for
> folks!
>

Absolutely!!! Matt's database is an important asset. I also  want to give a
big vote of thanks to the WCP member who tipped me off to the ad. He was
looking for a Mariner and he could have bought this one (it was only $500)
but he was made of sterner stuff than that..

Craig Jungers
Moses Lake, WA
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