On Saturday, May 21st, members of the World Jet Boat Race Teams, Fatal Attraction and Serious Trouble, both owned by family members Dale and Christopher Barger out of Orofino Idaho and participating in the Marathon Jetboat Races in Gold Beach this past weekend, reported that sometime during the previous night while their boats and vehicles were parked at Jot’s Resort, approximately $1500.00 of specialized tools used for working on their race boats was stolen out of their vehicles.
An investigation was initiated by responding Curry County Sheriff’s Deputies, and working with the management of Jot’s Resort, it was discovered the theft from Barger’s vehicle took place at about 5:36am the morning of the race after reviewing video camera footage.
Although it was difficult to positively identify the suspect, the video showed the suspect committing the crime. Deputies started making contacts with people of interest trying to identify the suspect and recover the stolen equipment.
On Monday May 23rd, Sheriff’s Deputies located thirty two year old Gold Beach resident Zeke Young while he was in possession of the tools and he was arrested and lodged in the Curry County Jail for Theft in the First Degree. Zeke Young’s vehicle was impounded, and a search warrant will be conducted for the possibility to locate additional evidence in this case.
The stolen tools were recovered and delivered back to the race teams who are scheduled to race in Josephine County on this Thursday. All information was given to the Curry County District Attorney and additional charges may be forth coming.
