Police arrest 3 teens aboard harbor yacht

Marisa O’Neil

Police on Monday arrested three teenagers who broke into the boat

recently sold by Tom and Jackie Hawks, a Newport Beach couple who

have been missing for a month.

Two Costa Mesa residents and one Santa Ana resident, all between

15 and 17, stole a small boat and used it to paddle out to the Well

Deserved, a 55-foot cabin cruiser moored in the harbor, Newport Beach

Police Sgt. Steve Shulman said. There, they broke a window, entered

the boat and helped themselves to food and drink, Shulman said.

They stayed aboard and fished from the boat, he said.

Deputies with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Harbor Patrol

in Newport Beach noticed the intruders at about 8 p.m. and called

Newport Beach Police, Shulman said.

Newport Beach Police arrested the three teenagers on suspicion of

vandalism and burglary, he said.

The Well Deserved, which is moored in Newport Harbor near 11th

Street, was sold last month for about $400,000 cash by the Hawks, a

retired couple who had been living on the boat.

The couple have not been heard from since, and the money never

showed up in their bank accounts, police said. Those accounts haven’t

had any activity since they disappeared, Shulman said.

Family members grew concerned because the couple usually stay in

close contact with them.

Pleas for information about their whereabouts have appeared on

local and national news programs.

Shulman said he did not believe the teenagers targeted the boat

because of the media coverage. He didn’t know why they chose to break

into that particular boat.

The boat is being held as evidence by police, though it still sits

in its mooring. Because it is in police custody, deputies have been

keeping a close eye on the boat, Shulman said.