LCSO follow AirTag to stolen boat taken from Fort Myers Beach private dock

Reporter: Jolena Esperto Writer: Elyssa Morataya
Published: Updated:

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office has recovered a stolen boat by tracing the signal of an Apple AirTag.

The boat was found Friday morning in a North Fort Myers neighborhood.

On Thursday, Jan. 25, a WINK News viewer sent a video showing an unknown man taking off with a family’s boat from a private dock.

Surveillance video caught the man boarding and sailing away on the white and light blue 2018 Robalo Cayman 246 SD.

Lisa Difilippo, the boat’s owner, said she and her husband saw the man as he pulled up to her private dock at Boardwalk Caper on Fort Myers Beach in a kayak.

“He knew what he was doing. He knew how to navigate through the posts and how to get the thing going and knew how to maneuver the wheel. He got out of here pretty quickly with it,” Difilippo said.

Then, on Friday morning, Brian Baker, Lisa’s husband, got a ping on his phone and was notified his boat was moving near Moody River Estates.

He gave the Lee County Sheriff’s Office live updates while he tracked it on his phone.

Now, the boat is back where it belongs, ready for Baker to take his family on rides again this weekend.

Moving forward, Baker said he will upgrade the GPS on the boat, requiring one’s phone to be nearby for the boat’s batteries to operate.

An arrest has not been made in connection with the theft.

If you recognize the person in the video or have any information regarding this theft, contact the Lee County Sheriff’s Office here. OR If you have seen them, contact SWFL Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS (8477) or submit a tip online.

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