Fake captain boards $8M fishing boat and convinces crew to set sail, Washington cops say
A man pretending to be a captain boarded a fishing boat and convinced the crew to leave the bay, Washington police said.
He went on the Jamie Marie, an $8 million and 80-foot-long vessel docked in Westport, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Police said in a Feb. 26 Facebook post.
Police said he then woke up the crew and told them to “get underway.”
The crew didn’t know the man but thought the real captain had sent him because he knew how to start and operate the boat, police said.
They made their way out of Grays Harbor and nearly crossed into the ocean when they realized something was wrong, police said.
The “captain” was talking about meeting the “Chinese Mothership,” police said.
Police said the real captain was contacted and said the boat had been stolen.
The crew got the imposter to turn the boat around, and he was arrested at the port where he was found in possession of $4,000 in cash and “a large quantity of individually weighed and packaged marijuana,” police said.
He was arrested on charges of possession of stolen property, vehicle prowling and manufacture/delivery of controlled substances.
Westport is in Grays Harbor County, which is about a 70-mile drive southwest from Olympia.
This story was originally published February 27, 2025 at 8:57 AM.
