PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — An armed man stole a sailboat that was docked at Penn’s Landing Wednesday night, authorities said. Police and the U.S. Coast Guard arrested him after he had already traveled a few miles down the Delaware River.
The 28-foot sailboat was docked at the Pier 5 Marina. Around 6:30 p.m., the unidentified man, who police say is in his 20s, hopped in and took it out for a spin.
He went right by Jeff Harth, a boat owner who was having dinner at the pier. Harth knew something was off because the club the boat belonged to was supposed to sail north on the Delaware River Wednesday night, and this boat was going south.
“It was obvious the guy was not part of the club,” Harth said. “I don’t know him. Never seen him before. He wasn’t running the boat correctly.”
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He said engines on vessels like these are relatively easy to start, “like a lawnmower.”
“He knew enough to get it started but didn’t know enough to use it properly,” he added. “That was my first clue something was wrong because he wasn’t running the engine right.”
Harth called the U.S. Coast Guard and the Philadelphia Police Marine Unit, which then honed in on the stolen boat. Authorities eventually stopped it near the Walt Whitman Bridge.
Once aboard the boat, police arrested 31-year-old Roger Pojar, who told officers that he had a stolen semi-automatic handgun on him. He is now facing gun, theft and other charges.
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