Authorities Fight Against Rising Tide of Boat Thefts

Private investigator Joe Maloney knew something was fishy when he heard a young man was trying to hawk novelist Harold Robbins’ $70,000 boat in a bar in Ensenada. He was asking only $5,000 for the 30-foot Bayliner.

Robbins was lucky. His boat, pirated from the Marina del Rey harbor in March, 1984, and eventually recovered, was one of thousands of vessels of all sizes stolen every year in the United States with little hope of recovery.

They’re expensive and easy to steal for profit, drug runs or just a good time. And law enforcement is just starting to develop a war plan to curb the tide of thefts out of marinas nationwide.

“It’s a big problem nobody will face,” said Jack Williams, a Los Angeles-based insurance adjuster who has investigated cases of stolen boats for more than 15 years.

No Precise Figures

“If I steal a car and drive it to Arizona, the feds and everyone else is after me,” he said in a recent interview. “If you steal my $20,000 boat and do anything you want to it, the only guy who’s going to talk you to death is an insurance investigator. Very few law enforcement officers know how to identify a stolen boat.”

The FBI’s National Crime Information Center in Washington keeps records on unrecovered stolen boats--about 23,000 at a time--but there are no precise figures for annual marine thefts or recoveries.

Depending on who provides the estimate, the recovery rate ranges from 5% for smaller vessels to as high as 40% for larger boats, which are usually worked by insurance investigators.

In contrast, the recovery rate for motor vehicles stolen nationwide in 1984 was 62.9%, according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report.

In Florida, the boat theft capital of the world, about $20 million in seagoing vessels is stolen each year, said Lt. Dave MacGillis, stolen boat coordinator of the Florida Marine Patrol.

Many larger boats used to be stolen in Florida for drug-running, but now individuals and theft rings take smaller, less-expensive boats looking for quick money. MacGillis said the shift was caused by a multiagency task force, formed by President Reagan in 1982 and headed by Vice President George Bush, to cut off ports of entry in the Southeast to drug traders.

“It became too hot to steal a large vessel simply to run drugs in,” said MacGillis, who is based in Tallahassee, Fla.

Maloney, whose office is in Laguna Niguel, Calif., is one of only a handful of private eyes across the nation who specialize in stolen boats.

A former Los Angeles County sheriff’s homicide investigator, Maloney’s cases involve boats 28 feet or longer and worth an average of $170,000. He does most of his work for insurance companies and has traveled as far south as Colombia in search of pilfered vessels.

“These fools think that once they cross the border, they’re home free,” Maloney said.

When Maloney works a case, one of his first tasks is to send fliers to 4,000 fuel docks and marinas, from the Panama Canal to Alaska and throughout the Pacific region, including Australia and New Zealand.

The posters picture the stolen vessel and offer thousands of dollars for information leading to its recovery.

Maloney also receives unsolicited leads from his network of eyes and ears on the Pacific.

One of his informants tipped him about the Robbins boat. Two men on the boat, in their 20s, and two young women with them were never apprehended, Maloney said.

Of the 1,086 boats stolen in California last year, 25 were 28 feet long or larger, and 10 of those were recovered, according to statistics from the state Department of Justice. The recovery rate for smaller boats, often stolen out of driveways, is not as good.

The boats may be sold whole or stripped down.

‘Big Bucks’

“You’re talking big bucks,” said Robert Hocking, a Sacramento-based investigator for the California Department of Motor Vehicles. “The average auto-theft loss is about $5,000 or $6,000. The average boat-theft loss (in Sacramento County) is about $12,000.”

Through inaction, boat manufacturers and state governments have made stealing a boat criminally easy, the experts say.

Most boats lack the anti-theft devices that are standard equipment on cars.

“The automobile industry, because of the auto theft problem throughout the years, they’ve developed key ignitions, door locks, anti-theft devices,” said MacGillis. “They’ve just about wiped out what you call ‘joy riding.’ ”

But many boats moored at marinas have cabins that can be opened in minutes and they can easily be hot-wired. In addition, they lack uniform and hidden hull identification numbers, the equivalent of a car’s vehicle identification number.

Federal law has required a confidential or hidden hull identification number on new pleasure boats only since 1984.

Another problem is how ownership is documented. Only 17 states and the District of Columbia require ownership titles for boats, while all 50 states require them for cars, MacGillis said.

And while states like California and Texas require an ownership title, they do not require an inspection of the vehicle before the title is issued.

Retitled and Resold

Thus, with just a few cosmetic changes, a stolen boat can be retitled and easily resold. Thieves tend to prey on common boats and avoid distinctive vessels that are harder to camouflage.

“On a $25,000 boat they’re willing to spend several thousand dollars on cosmetic changes to alter the appearance of the boat,” MacGillis said.

Lax titling laws also lead to insurance fraud.

Some boats exist in title only and are reported stolen to collect insurance. And some boat owners, tired of making payments or seeking new boats without absorbing depreciation on used ones, sink the vessels.

“All you have to do is go into a (Department of Motor Vehicles) and say, ‘I built a boat in my backyard,’ and we’ll title it,” Hocking said. “We’re titling paper boats.”

About 25% of reported boat thefts turn out to be insurance fraud, which in turn forces premiums higher, investigators said.

Florida Takes Action

Florida does more than any other state to discourage boat theft. For example, under a Florida law that took effect Oct. 1, 1984, all homemade and custom boats larger than 16 feet must be inspected by the Florida Marine Patrol before a title is issued.

“The first year we implemented it there was a 51% reduction in homemade and custom boat applications,” MacGillis said.

MacGillis, who conducts seminars around the country, hopes to lay the groundwork for a nationwide marine theft intelligence network when a group of auto and boat theft investigators meet in Nashville, Tenn., in June.