Five males in their late teens to mid-20s are suspected in the early morning July 17 yacht burglaries at Galati Yacht Sales in Anna Maria.
The males arrived in a white Chevy or GMC commercial-type van with a large window on the passenger side, and left with a stolen shotgun, pistol and other items, Manatee County Sheriff’s Sgt. Russell Schnering said. The sergeant heads the MCSO substation in the city.
In the parking lot where the yachts were dry docked, break-ins occurred on three vessels and a burglary was attempted on a fourth yacht, Manatee County public information director Dave Bristow wrote in a July 18 email.
Hit were a 42-foot Viking, 55-foot Prestige and a 60-foot Maritimo, he added.
Unlike two other Anna Maria yacht burglaries in February, the high-end electronics were not targeted, Schnering said.
Significant damage was reported on at least one yacht.
Schnering said MCSO interviewed several “persons of interest” but made no arrests as of July 25.
“There’s a lot of good evidence, a good video, fingerprints and DNA. We don’t usually get this much evidence,” he said.
He described one of the suspects as having a tattoo across his chest, another with tattoos on his right forearm and a third person wore an earring in his left ear.
Sometime Feb. 22-24, near Galati Marine in the middle of the night, burglars stole global positioning monitors from two docked yachts — a $25,000 system from a boat in the 800 block of South Bay Boulevard and electronics valued at $22,500 from a vessel docked less than 10 yards away.
Schnering said one case was closed without a recovery. The second electronics theft is open and assigned a detective, he said.
Schnering recommended people dock their boats in well-lit areas and remove valuables when the boat is not in use.
He asks people to view the MCSO’s YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3X0RmtPU48.
Anyone with information is asked to call the MCSO at 941-747-3011 or Crime Stoppers at 866-634-TIPS.