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Florida broker charged in boat theft probe

Discussion in 'General Yachting Discussion' started by rocdiver, Oct 25, 2010.

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  1. rocdiver

    rocdiver Senior Member

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    ST. PETERSBURG — The owner of a boat and yacht brokerage company and another man were arrested on grand theft charges after authorities said they sold stolen boats overseas, Pinellas sheriff's deputies said.

    Mark A. Conner, 38, of Treasure Island was arrested Thursday on charges of scheme to defraud and four counts of grand theft. He was being held on $40,000 bail Friday at the Pinellas County Jail. Lawrence P. Plumstead, 44, of Seminole was arrested on three counts of grand theft. Plumstead was released Friday morning after posting $15,000 bond.

    The investigation began in August after deputies received a complaint that Conner, owner of Suncoast Marine at 8290 Bay Pines Blvd., stiffed customers on the sale of three boats. Deputies said Conner accepted the boats on consignment, with the agreement that he would take a commission on sales. However, he never paid the owners or the lending company.

    They began surveilling Conner, and saw him and Plumstead shrink-wrapping a stolen Scout model boat for shipment to Australia at a Pinellas Park storage lot, authorities said.

    The men were arrested Thursday as they were taking the boat out of the lot.

    Deputies operating under a search warrant then found four more stolen boats and trailers at the lot. The vessels, all between 21 and 25 feet, were a Boston Whaler, a Pro Line center console, a Century center console and a Century walk-around, deputies said.

    Deputies said Conner was observed stealing the Century walk-around on a home surveillance camera in Hillsborough County.

    From the St Petersburg FL Times
  2. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    That's one way to increase the profit margin, at least till you have to invest bail.
  3. ArcanisX

    ArcanisX Senior Member

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    So essentially his grand plan, according to this, was to take boats from owners on consignment, then sell those boats overseas and never return a dime to the owner?

    Real sneaky. I wonder what went wrong with that...:D
  4. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    We had a guy up here do the same thing with high end cars. It's actually a good play. 9 times out of 10 it would be handled as a civil matter and end in a settlement years down the line. Of course, the times they are a'changin. It really puts a kink in the plan when you steal from someone connected and have a DA willing to take it criminal.:D
  5. rocdiver

    rocdiver Senior Member

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    Unfortunately, that was only part of the grand plan. He was also caught red-handed shrink wrapping a stolen boat (not one he had taken on consignment) for shipping overseas. Later it was discovered he was on video as the guy who actually stole it! Then there were the other 4 stolen boats they found in his storage area.

    As NYCap said, if he just kept to his original MO, it probably would have gone civil and gone through the very slow civil court system. He got too greedy though and turned it criminal very fast.

    ROCKY
  6. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    Don't brokers need to be licensed in Florida? Sure does inspire confidence. Think this might warrant a license suspension?:rolleyes:
  7. Norseman

    Norseman Senior Member

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    Yup, licensed, good moral character, no criminal record, etc.

    Looks like this guy found a loophole however and thought he could print his own money.
    The jails are full of them and society should introduce mandatory abortion on that type of folks, with retroactive force...:rolleyes:
  8. ArcanisX

    ArcanisX Senior Member

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    Yea, running both operations at the same time is extra brilliant. Reduces profile, makes people investigating one less likely to find out about another, and generally hedges risks by diversifying.

    I wonder how the it could stay civil case when con artist fails to present neither the item nor the money and owner reports thief off that simple fact, but well, me and US legal system are literally on the opposite sides of the globe... Anyways, looks more like an unvoluntary loan with random interest rate (depending on the settlement) and a % chance to land in a jail then truly a workable con scheme to me.