Officer in Yacht Case Faces New Counts

Investigators probing an alleged yacht theft ring involving a Los Angeles policeman and a convicted bank robber said Wednesday they found property taken from stolen boats in the officer’s homes and filed four additional felony counts against the officer.

As a result, Officer William E. Leasure, who hoped to have his $100,000 bail reduced in a court hearing in Contra Costa County, instead saw a judge increase it to $1 million.

Oakland Police Sgt. William Godwin said the property, which he would not describe, was found in Leasure’s homes in Northridge and Long Beach by Los Angeles police. Leasure has now been charged with six counts of theft and selling stolen property.

The widening probe has thus far linked Leasure and co-defendant Robert D. Kuns to the theft and resale of 11 pleasure boats from Marina del Rey, Long Beach, Newport Beach, Dana Point and San Diego, Godwin said. They are considered suspects in the thefts of several other boats, he added.

Los Angeles police detectives, scrutinizing some of Leasure’s fellow officers for possible involvement, met with Bay Area investigators Wednesday. Various federal and local agencies are also pursuing leads indicating that the suspects were involved in illegal trafficking in narcotics, firearms and stolen property.

Leasure and Kuns were arrested by Oakland police May 29 shortly after delivering a stolen 41-foot pleasure boat to a would-be buyer. Bail for Kuns, who served two years in federal prison for the 1973 robbery of a San Diego bank, is also $1 million.