Scumbags Caught!

[Swede]

MARSHFIELD — Two men face felony charges after police and harbormaster officers nabbed them for allegedly stealing expensive fishing gear off boats in a Marshfield marina.

Paul A. Young, 41, of 150 Arnold Road, Marshfield, was arraigned in Plymouth District Court on Friday. The man who allegedly drove a getaway boat, Michael Nichols, 37, of 55 Wapping Road, Kingston, will be summonsed to court.

The Marshfield harbormaster’s office and police received a call around 9 p.m. Wednesday from a boat owner at Green Harbor Marina reporting a man, later identified as Young, taking fishing rods from another boat.

The caller said he confronted the man, knowing that the boat wasn’t his. The caller said Young then jumped into a waiting boat and sped across the harbor. The man driving the boat was later identified as Nichols.

Police say the caller chased the two men across the harbor, while he was on the radio reporting the alleged crime.

Young and Nichols sped toward one a float at the town pier. Here, three witnesses who were fishing said they saw Nichols get dropped off with the rods.

Young continued on to the launch ramp, where he was confronted by assistant harbormasters John Toomey and Edward Vacha. The two officers found six more fishing rods in the bottom of Young’s boat, along with a cooler and fishing net.

The assistant harbormasters said Young panicked, dumping the equipment into the water.

It was later determined 11 rods had been stolen from three boats at the marina, including five tuna rods valued at more than $800 each.

Harbormaster Michael Dimeo said his office, a division of the police department, does not take such crimes lightly.

Young was charged with five counts of trespassing, 13 counts of larceny more than $250, three counts of breaking and entering a motor boat in the nighttime – the latter being a felony. He was later charged with violating the town’s “no wake” bylaw and for driving with a suspended motor vehicle license and an unregistered boat trailer.

Nichols faces three counts of breaking and entering a motor boat in the nighttime, 13 counts of larceny more than $250, and five counts of trespassing.

READ MORE about the Marshfield boating scene.