Pictured: Men Wanted In Stolen Personal Watercrafts Cases
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MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) – Miami Beach Police are searching for two men who may be connected to 17 personal watercrafts that were stolen from homes in the area.
On Friday, police released a picture of the men they are looking for, asking anyone who recognizes them to call authorities.
They also released new surveillance tape of two men stealing a personal watercraft at 4:30 p.m. this past Wednesday from a home on North Bay Road.
One man is seen pacing back and forth and then throwing a switch on a hydraulic lift to lower the personal watercraft into the water before he and another man take it away.
Miami Beach Marine Patrol Officer Duane Rezende told CBS4's Peter D'Oench as they took a ride on a police boat by the home, "They (the thieves) basically got up on the sea wall and lowered it on the lift and drove it off. The people who live there could have cut the power to the lift and then chained it up."
"There is no rhyme or reason to what they are doing," said Miami Beach Officer and police spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez. "They are taking personal watercraft from all over Miami Beach."
Rodriguez added, "In a lot of instances, two individuals come up with one Jet Ski and tow the other one as way. These aren't being in nighttime hours. They are being done in broad daylight and they are able to disguise themselves as Jet Ski riders."
Cameras caught the two men getting away with a 2016 grey Yamaha WaveRunner on July 17th from behind a Star Island home.
Back on June 22nd, in the afternoon hours, another WaveRunner was stolen. This time it at 127 E. Rivo Alto Drive.
Neighbors said they saw two people towing the stolen 2013 dark blue Yamaha using another WaveRunner in the Maloy Channel.
Both were described as white men between 25 to 30 years old with short brown hair. One was seen wearing bright orange shorts.
Rodriguez said, "A determined criminal is going to steal your jet ski so another step in preventing this is shutting off the power so they are not able to lower the watercraft in to the water. Also there's a simple thing like secure it with a lock and key and when we say secure it we mean a nice tight steel cable."
It's not known if the two men are responsible for all of the thefts or if they are part of a organize ring.
Rodriguez said a year ago, police busted a ring of criminals who were stealing watercraft.
Police took news crews out on to the water to show how people have been victimized.
Officer Rezende pointed to one home with personal watercraft and said, "These Jet Skis have no locking mechanism. They should be chained up and locked up."
Police said new personal watercraft range between $10,000 and $20,000.
"There are bigger groups that steal them," said Rezende, "and those are the groups that send them to South America or the Caribbean and other locations and there are other groups that steal them for parts and soup up the motors."
He said selling stolen personal watercraft could net thieves around $3,000 for each one.
CBS4 discovered that some personal watercraft have been stolen from behind homes where the owners are not living there because they are under construction.
No arrests have been made in connection to the other WaveRunners that were stolen.
Anyone with information is urged to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS.
