PORTLAND, Ore. — Boat owners are frustrated by crime at a Southwest Portland marina.
“It’s really sad,” Massimo Orsini said.
Orsini docks his 38-foot boat at River Place Marina. The boat is named after his late mother, Letizia.
“This is my special place,” he said. “I feel connected to her.”
It will never be the same though.
Orsini said over the last few nights his boat has been broken into twice. The crooks made themselves at home by eating, lighting candles and may have even used drugs.
They stole speakers, cameras, clothes and toiletries among other things.
“I’d say three, four, $5,000 easy,” he said.
Orsini said he is not the only boat owner at the marina dealing with this. Several others have had similar problems in the last week and a half.
“It’s very frustrating,” Alan Sanchez said.
Sanchez docks a boat at the marina.
He said the harbormaster called him to alert him to the recent crime. His 72-foot yacht was spared.
“Truthfully I think it’s the homeless boats,” Sanchez said.
Orsini agrees though there is no way of knowing for sure. Orsini is hoping deputies can track down whoever is responsible.
“They’re touching something that has my mother’s name,” Orsini said. “That’s wrong.”
The harbormaster reached out to KGW and said they are increasing security at the marina.