PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – There's a neighborhood crime alert out of St. Johns County, where authorities said they are searching for a person who broke into a Ponte Vedra Beach storage facility and stole nearly $22,000 worth of boating equipment.
According to the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office, a person with long hair was seen on surveillance video early Saturday morning walking the grounds of St. Johns Boat and RV Storage on Old Dixie Highway. Detectives believe the same person is responsible for stealing about $21,680 worth of high-end GPS devices from multiple boats that were stored on the lot.
One boater told News4Jax on Monday that the pricey devices may have been targeted because really good GPS devices are in high demand and come with a steep price tag -- costing hundreds of dollars.
Boat owner Mike Conte said his boat was likely spared from the thefts because he has a much older boat with an older GPS.
"It stinks that people are breaking in," Conte said. "But my boat is not really worth it to steal anything off of it."
Although the owner of the lot would not comment about what happened, Conte said he and other tenants often received notices when there is a problem.
“The owner tells us about it when stuff is broken into, 'Be careful, watch out,'" Conte said.
In May, News4Jax reported $274,000 worth of boat motors had been stolen since the beginning of the year from various St. Johns County storage facilities.
"There’s cameras here. They’ve upgraded the security here, so it is what it is," Conte said.
St. Johns Boat and RV Storage does have a high fence and security cameras to deter crooks.
A law enforcement source told News4Jax the boat marine devices are in such high demand that there is actually a black market for them.