CAPE CORAL, Fla. -- Boat engine thieves struck again in Southwest Florida, making this the fourth incident since October.
Ben Pearson tells 4 In Your Corner burglars swiped his $17,000 Yamaha engine at Snowbird Storage on Southwest Pine Island Road in Cape Coral. The thieves cut through a fence of the facility.
Pearson is just the latest case in a string of Yamaha motor thefts over the last two months. Crooks have stolen 11 Yamaha motors from Cape Tool and Tackle in Cape Coral, five from Island Crab Company in Saint James City, and two from AD&D Manufacturing in the Cape since October. "All these thefts going on around here, they're obviously professionals. They know what they're going after," Pearson said.
Unlike the other thefts, Pearson had a GPS tracker on his engine. He called police after he got an alert that his engine was on the move.
The crooks made their way down south and stopped at iStorage in Collier County, before ditching the tracking device in a wooded area. Now Pearson is urging police to look at their surveillance video.
Cape Coral police tell 4 In Your Corner they are working with Collier authorities, and the investigation into the theft remains active. Management at iStorage say they are fully cooperating with the investigation.
