As some of you know we have a lot on Whidbey Island as a kayak headquarters. I bought the lot (cheap - it has a ravine on it) mostly for access to the 3100 feet of sandy community beach it gives us access to. And for free long-term parking. And for the ability to legally put a mooring buoy out for the muthah-ship and thereby save a bundle on slip fees. Rather than just leave a kayak on the beach like most of the other members of the community, I stashed a Mariner Escape I had bought last winter in the bushes on the lot along with a spray skirt, paddle, paddle float, PFD, etc. This would let me go visit the lot when I was in the area without hauling a kayak around on the top of my car. Some time between about July and early December someone decided that the kayak would be better off in their hands than in mine and they took it from its hiding spot. I mentioned it on West Coast Paddlers, told Matt Broze about it so he could include it in his database of lost and/or stolen boats, and mostly wrote it off to experience. But I did keep a wary eye on craigslist just in case. Earleir this week a WCP member sent me a link to a boat offered for sale on Seattle's craigslist which closely resembled mine. It was for sale from a south Whidbey location. He had also determined that it was the correct color by calling about the boat. In fact, it was only when he was half way home that he realized that the seller's description of the boat as a "northwest kayak escape" as a Mariner Escape (northwest kayaks built and labeled most of the Escapes). He then contacted me. I contacted the Island County Sheriff's Dept. and then the seller who told me he had received the boat from his "dad" in June. I then mentioned that it sounded a lot like the kayak that had been stolen from my property last summer. He then changed his story and said that he had "stumbled" over the kayak hidden in the woods while he was looking for mushrooms and that he assumed it was stolen and stashed in the woods so he took it. The kayak was, in reality, hidden only about 75 feet from a paved street in an area of homes. At any rate, he allowed as how it might be my kayak and I told him not to sell it to anyone and wait for a deputy from the Sheriff's Dept. to contact him. The deputy played phone tag with this guy for a day but I finally got in touch with him and arranged to drive the 5 hours to Whidbey from Moses Lake to pick up the boat today. At that time he told me that he was satisfied it was my kayak based on the answers to a few questions (color of PFD, etc.). However this morning I could not get him to answer his cell phone so I contacted the deputy. I didn't want to drive all that way to get the boat and then not have it. And I did not want the seller to move the boat and make it impossible for me to identify it as mine. The deputy could not contact the seller either but knew who he was because Pam had done a reverse lookup on one of the phone numbers in the craigslist ad. She also came up with a business address attached to the phone number. So we visited the business and while no one was there we did see the kayak in plain view next to the building. I went over to it and identified the boat as mine from some details that I had related to the deputy before we went to the location. With that identification the deputy allowed me to take posession of my property. I loaded the kayak on my car and drove home. It was a long trip but worth it. The kayak is in good shape except that one of the sliders (port side) for the sliding seat is missing. I'll have to contact Matt and see if I can get a replacement. And the hand pump is gone. Interesting that one of the things that made the WCP member realize it was my kayak was that the list of items offered for sale with the boat was the same list I had posted as having been stolen with the boat. All's well that ends well, as they say. Just goes to show you that it pays to tell other paddlers in the area when you have a stolen kayak. Six months later someone may remember. Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Craig Jungers wrote: >All's well that ends well, as they say. Just goes to show you that it pays >to tell other paddlers in the area when you have a stolen kayak. Six months >later someone may remember. > > > 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) Well, at least you have it back mostly in original shape. A big thanks to Matt for his efforts to recover/report stolen kayaks for folks! Jackie *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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 *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Craig, Glad you got it back. I hope the guy gets charged and convicted of theft. At the very least you should think about keel-hauling him from that kayak - in January. Steve Holtzman __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 3772 (20090116) __________ The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. http://www.eset.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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