North Kitsap man caught while attempting to steal Poulsbo police boat
Police found a 32-year-old North Kitsap man paddling the Poulsbo police boat out into Liberty Bay early one morning last week, according to court documents.
The man was arrested, and after it was found that he had damaged equipment on the vessel, he was charged with a count of first-degree malicious mischief in Kitsap County Superior Court on Monday.
Police were called about a boat that was adrift off Anderson Parkway in Poulsbo at about 4 a.m. on July 21. Officers arrived in the area and found the Poulsbo Police Department boat, Marine 6, undocked from the slips at the Port of Poulsbo, drifting away, and saw someone onboard, a Poulsbo officer wrote in a report.
"The defendant did not have permission or authorization to be on Marine 6 and was observed wearing an orange life vest while paddling away towards the open water," the officer wrote.
The man was ordered to get off the boat, and he was arrested. Further investigation found that the man had damaged equipment on the boat and had caused more than $5,000 worth of damage.
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Washington man charged for damaging police boat equipment
