Two men found rowing a sailboat near the Canada-U.S. marine border were arrested after a police patrol learned one was wanted on warrants and the other had been ordered not to be on any vessel he didn’t own.
The owner told police the sailboat had been stolen from Cadboro Bay.
On May 4, a Canada-U.S. Shiprider crew including RCMP and U.S. Coast Guard staff were in a U.S. Coast Guard vessel when they spotted the 26-foot blue-and-white sailboat west of Stuart Island.
The boat appeared to have no wind or motor power. The men on board told officials that they had run out of fuel.
As police were speaking to the men, the two vessels drifted into a shipping lane in U.S. waters, RCMP said in a statement Thursday.
At that point, the sailboat was considered a hazard to shipping, so police offered to tow the sailboat to a U.S. port, but the men opted to use its sails to return to Canadian waters.
Records checked at the time showed that neither man owned the boat and that it had not been reported stolen.
They also revealed that one of the men was wanted in B.C. on outstanding warrants. The other man was subject to conditions that he not be on any vessel he did not own or possess documentation for. Both are from Greater Victoria.
When the sailboat reached Canada, the Shiprider crew boarded and arrested the man who was wanted on warrants, who was transferred to Sidney-North Saanich RCMP. His name is not being released.
The second man was permitted to sail away in the boat while police tried to find the owner.
It later turned out that the boat had been stolen from Cadboro Bay, where it had been moored, and that the owner had now filed a police report, RCMP said.
The next day, an RCMP Shiprider crew found the sailboat heading east south of Pender Island. The man who had been allowed to sail away was arrested for possession of stolen property and failing to comply with conditions.
Police said that when they searched the vessel, they found tools and an inflatable runabout that were alleged to be stolen.
Thomas Richard Cudworth has been charged with possession of stolen property over $5,000, possession of stolen property under $5,000 and breach of an undertaking.
He is scheduled to appear in provincial court in Victoria on June 15.
“Inter-agency collaboration is vital to the effectiveness of our border operations,” said Insp. Jim Leonard, acting officer in charge of the B.C. RCMP Federal Serious and Organized Crime Border Integrity Program.
“The mixed crews of our Shiprider program provide the flexibility and authorities required to operate seamlessly in the marine environment on both sides of the border.”
