Man arrested for alleged fishing boat piracy on the high seas of Bethel Island

OAKLEY — A suspected Bethel Island buccaneer was arrested on suspicion of offloading a fishing boat on Dutch Slough Road two weeks after it had been cut loose from its berth and stolen, authorities said.

The 28-year-old Stockton man was arrested in late December on suspicion of receiving roughly $40,000 in stolen property, including the Ranger bass fishing boat, two motors and various tools of the trade. During the investigation, the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office located another fishing vessel that had been stolen in an unrelated incident, authorities said.

The suspect has not yet been charged, court records show.

Authorities say the victim lived on Taylor Road in Bethel Island, on a property that included a small dock for his boat. Around Halloween, he learned from a neighbor that his vessel had been cut loose and taken, authorities said. Two weeks later, in mid-November, a sheriff’s deputy was called to investigate a report of another boat that had been tied to a Dutch Slough Road berth overnight, which also turned out to be stolen.

Police recovered surveillance footage from the area, showing the 28-year-old man and another unidentified person offloading the Taylor Road resident’s boat, authorities said. Investigators recognized him from other police contacts.

Piracy on the waterways of Contra Costa is rare but not unheard of. Last year, police arrested a 55-year-old man on suspicion of grand theft and conspiracy after an unoccupied stolen boat was found floating near the Bethel Island Road bridge. The suspect was identified when his DNA matched a screwdriver found next to the vessel’s punched-out ignition, authorities said.