A second suspect has been arrested, 24 hours after two men allegedly tampered with and damaged boats at the Havre de Grace City Yacht Basin.
The crimes took place on Monday evening just before 8 p.m., while it was still light out. A member of the tight-knit marina community noticed the engine running on Josh Argentino’s 46-foot sport fishing boat. The boat was still winterized. Argentino, owner of boat dealer/salvage operator Argentino Marine Sales & Service, rushed over. He quickly discovered his boat’s surveillance camera had been disabled and thrown into the water and that’s when he knew it was an intentional crime. Argentino was able to scoop up the camera and give police the SD card, which held a high-quality video recording. Watch it:
In the video, which was turned over to police before Argentino shared it with Chesapeake Bay Magazine, you can see the men size up the boat on Pier 1 and board it. One man goes below and then they get the engines running. Unfortunately, with the boat still winterized, the seacocks were off and the engines weren’t cooling. Witnesses smelled burning rubber and antifreeze. Both of the boat’s Detroit Diesel engines were destroyed, with Argentino estimating the damage at up to $70,000 per engine.
The burglars ultimately left, chased off by slipholders who saw them on the pier and felt they didn’t belong there.
Police say several other boats at the city marina also showed signs of tampering on neighboring Pier 2. Argentino believes the suspects tried to start multiple boats, including one that was found ransacked with its breakers blown.
Corporal Phil Goertz, Public Information Officer for Havre de Grace Police, tells us that police were able to identify the two suspects using Argentino’s surveillance video and their database, matching the men to a traffic stop the Maryland Transportation Authority made earlier that day. The first suspect was arrested and charged with 4th-degree burglary, malicious destruction of property at a value over $1,000, and trespass of a boat. He was later released on his own recognizance. The second suspect was still on the loose, with a warrant out for his arrest. Police arrested him late Tuesday night, charging him with the same counts as the first man.
The piers at Havre de Grace City Yacht Basin, which lie along Tydings Park, are intended for slipholders only, but there is no locked gate to keep out curious or ill-intentioned trespassers. Argentino says there is a swing gate with a sign indicating it is for marina members only. As a member of the city’s marina commission, Argentino says he and other members have been asking for cameras and locked gates at the Yacht Basin for close to a year. “This is just a prime example of why,” he says.
Havre de Grace Police do respond to incidents at the Yacht Basin from time to time, but Goertz calls a crime like this uncommon. “Maybe once a summer somebody goes down there and will rifle through boats and steal change… petty theft. But I’ve been here for 12 years and I don’t recall an incident where someone has gone down and attempted to steal a boat or anything like that,” he says.
Argentino says the brazen act and damage to his boat hits hard because he has been renovating it for the last four years, “with any bit of free time I get,” he tells us. Called the Negotiator, the 46′ Post Sportfish has had almost everything redone: new paint, electronics, interior flooring and upholstery, granite countertops… he says this was to be the first season he didn’t have renovation projects still underway.
As a new father, Argentino was particularly excited to spend the summer on the boat with his wife and 10-month-old daughter. The marine business owner is known for helping in the upper Bay boating community. We reported in 2023 when Argentino helped rescue two people stranded in December in their powerboat, and in October 2024, when he spent days searching for a man’s prosthetic leg, lost overboard in a boating accident.
Argentino says he used to work as a police officer. “As a former officer, I had been on the other end of this plenty of times, but I’ve never been on this end, as the victim. It’s not a good feeling.” Looking for the positive, he points out that at least nobody got hurt and his family is safe. He is still waiting to find out how much his insurance will cover of his engine damage.
Anyone with information about this crime should contact Havre de Grace Police at 410-939-2121.
