Four people faced a judge on Wednesday after stealing a boat from a marina in Harwich, Massachusetts, and leading police on a high-speed chase Tuesday night.
Christopher Arms, 37, of Harwich, Lisa Shorey, 49, of Hyannis, Geoffrey Curran, 23, of Hyannis, and Jason Mostacci, 36, of Danvers, were arrested and charged with felony larceny.
The suspects pleaded not guilty at their arraignment in Orleans District Court.
Police were called at about 7:45 p.m. Tuesday after four unknown people boarded a boat at the Allen Harbor Marine. The owner verified to police that he was not there and that no one should be on his boat.
When a responding officer arrived, he saw the boat was going through the channel and headed for Nantucket Sound.
Three Harwich officers joined the harbormaster on his patrol boat in an attempt to locate the stolen boat, which is worth $400,000. The United States Coast Guard and a patrol boat from the Yarmouth Department of Natural Resources was also deployed to help.
The harbormaster's boat was eventually able to catch up with the 36-foot vessel, which was speeding through the ocean.
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"They pull up alongside the boat, tell them to stop the boat, which they do, and then our guys proceed to board the boat which is code for jumping on the boat in the chop — because it wasn’t a really calm night out there," said Harwich Police Sgt. Aram Goshgarian.
The officers arrested the four suspects and the boat was taken back to the Allen Harbor Marine. Police said one suspect told them that his father had a boat at the marina years ago and he thought that it was the one he took.
All four individuals are expected to return to court on Aug. 29. for a pretrial hearing.
