Boat Thief Caught

[Bobcat]

Local arrested for boat theft
BY ADAM LINHARDT Citizen Staff
alinhardt@keysnews.com
A man accused of stealing a boat from the Key West Yacht Club Saturday morning with two underage girls was rescued by the Coast Guard after the boat broke down at Boca Grande Key.

Key West police waiting at Coast Guard Sector Key West charged Brandon Tait Casas, 20, of Key West with felony grand theft of a motor vehicle.

The incident began about 5 a.m. Saturday, when police were called to the yacht club, 2315 N. Roosevelt Blvd., by John Bradley Miller, 68, of Key West, who owns the 34-foot Crusader named Pursuit.

Messages left for Miller were not returned as of presstime.

Investigating officers also met with a witness who lives on a boat moored next to Miller's. She told police she saw three young men and two young women arrive in a white SUV and take off in Miller's boat, according to incident reports.

The white SUV, which was still in the parking lot of the yacht club, came back registered to Casas.

Meanwhile, a missing person was reported about the same time, reports state. Another officer went to meet with the person who reported the girl missing and came back with a photo that was recently posted on the social networking website Instagram.

Miller and others confirmed the photo showed Casas at the helm of the Pursuit with the reported missing girl. Miller told officers that Casas had worked on his boat about a year ago, but didn't have permission to take the vessel, reports state.

Police immediately relayed a be-on-the-lookout (BOLO) to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers, the Coast Guard and the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.

A few minutes later, the Coast Guard informed police they had just received a distress call from a boat called the Pursuit off Boca Grande Key -- a small island about 12 miles west of Key West. The Pursuit was having electrical problems, reports state.

A private towboat shadowed two responding Coast Guard boats to the scene. The towboat provided the Pursuit a jump start, but the electrical systems wouldn't stay on, said Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Peter Bermont.

Coast Guard crews boarded the Pursuit, put Casas and the others on a Coast Guard boat, and then towed to the Pursuit back to Sector Key West.

"Because the boat was reported stolen, we wanted as much control as possible," Bermont said when asked why the towboat didn't tow the Pursuit.

The juveniles were turned over to waiting parents. The two males with Casas were released after police interviews. All the passengers on the boat told police they had believed Casas had permission to take the boat, and that he had taken them out to watch the sunrise.

Casas reportedly told police during questioning that he was "stupid and took the boat," adding that he knew he didn't have permission to take the Pursuit.

Casas was taken to Monroe County Detention Center on Stock Island, where he remained Monday in lieu of $20,000 bail.

alinhardt@keysnews.com

[rschap1]

stupid is right...

[old377guy]

Glad to hear it turned out ok

[Ratickle]

I guess he didn't do very good work on the boat either if it broke down and he couldn't fix it......