- The US Coast Guard rescued a man as the ship he was on capsized on Friday.
- Jericho Labonte was on a stolen ship and was also wanted in connection with dead fish left on the porch of the "Goonies" house.
The US Coast Guard rescued a man from a stolen boat that almost capsized only to learn that he was the same man suspected of leaving a dead fish on the porch of the "Goonies" house in Astoria, Oregon, police said.
—USCGPacificNorthwest (@USCGPacificNW) February 3, 2023
In a series of tweets, the Coast Guard said they were conducting a training mission at the mouth of the Columbia River when two aircrews received a mayday call from a boat named Sandpiper. The video shows the boat was in the middle of the surf just floating back and forth on Friday morning.
Since the conditions were so bad, boats could not be sent in to rescue the man. Instead, the Coast Guard said aircrews decided to lower a rescue swimmer and have the man on board jump into the water. The boat capsized right as the man on the boat entered the water. According to the Coast Guard, the on-scene conditions were "20-foot seas and extremely high windspeeds."
—USCGPacificNorthwest (@USCGPacificNW) February 3, 2023
"As he entered the water the vessel capsized but the rescue swimmer was able to safely recover the individual. He was flown back to Coast Guard Base Astoria where EMS was waiting to evaluate and treat the man," the Coast Guard said.
Local station KPTV reported that police in Astoria, Oregon, arrested the man, identified as 35-year-old Jericho Labonte of Canada, later that night.
Two days before the Coast Guard rescued Labonte, police said they received a call about the dead fish incident. Labonte had been caught on surveillance footage two days prior to the rescue leaving a dead fish on the porch of the house made famous from the cult classic film "The Goonies," Astoria police said in a statement.
Labonte also appeared to have videotaped himself as he left the dead fish on the porch and uploaded it to his Facebook. The surveillance footage was shared with local station KGW and appears to show a man also trying to cover the security cameras with stickers.
On Friday, after Labonte has been discharged from the hospital, the police received a call from Port Security Chief Matt Hansen that the ship that was involved in the rescue was stolen.
"He recognized the vessel on the video, contacted the owner, and confirmed that it had been stolen. At about the same time, we received calls from several citizens identifying the rescued victim as Labonte," the police said.
Police said Labonte was wanted on charges of Theft I, Endangering Another Person, Unauthorized Use of a Vehicle, and Criminal Mischief II, and was later found and arrested at a warming center on Friday night.
Labonte is also wanted in Canada on warrants for criminal harassment, mischief, and failure to comply, the Victoria police department shared in a tweet.