San Diego

Stolen Boat Prompts Helicopter Search in Mission Bay

The powerboat is typically used to cruise around Mission Bay and wouldn't last long distances, a boat owner said

San Diego police called in a search helicopter to help find a boat that was stolen from a Mission Bay dock overnight but the vessel and the suspected thief were nowhere to be found. 

The 15-foot power boat was docked in the Quivira Basin of Mission Bay when at about midnight someone began pulling the boat out of the Marina, the San Diego Police Department said.

Another boat owner told police he knew it wasn't the boat's owner, his friend, who typically isn't in the marina late at night. 

"It started backing up and going forward, and backing up and going forward and I knew that wasn't my friend who usually just backs it up and takes it out," boat owner Nick Young said. 

Minutes after officers arrived on scene, a helicopter was assisting police in the search for the stolen boat but the watercraft could not be located, SDPD Sgt. Cory Mapston said. 

The powerboat is typically used to cruise around Mission Bay and wouldn't last long distances, Young said. 

Mapston doesn't think the suspect got out of the bay and said police will likely find the boat in the morning. 

SDPD sees a couple of stolen boat cases a month and, in most cases, the property is recovered, Mapston said.

No other information was available.

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