LIGHTHOUSE POINT, Fla. — Lighthouse Point police say they caught two men who stole high-end marine GPS units overnight Tuesday.
It happened just before 1:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Port 32 Marina at 2831 Marina Circle. Authorities said it’s been the site of multiple boat burglaries over the past several months.
Police said they were called out to the marina after a witness saw two men, later identified as Emmanuel Etienne, 22, of northwest Miami-Dade, and Willie Jones, 21, of Miami, arrive in a Mercedes-Benz sedan, hop a fence and board vessels to remove items.
Henry Schmidt says he was sleeping when the thieves walked onto his boat.
“I don’t like that kind of invasion of the place I’m sleeping on,” Schmidt said. “They have tools that could have been used as weapons.”
Authorities said they arrived to find one of the men in the car about to drive off. They said he later ran into a neighborhood and a K-9 dog located him behind a set of bushes.
Officers found the other suspect swimming away, police said.
Police said they determined that “multiple vessels had been unlawfully entered” and found two Garmin GPS units in the trunk of the Mercedes and burglary tools inside the vehicle.
Jail records show Etienne and Jones are both facing burglary and grand theft charges. Etienne is facing additional charges of resisting arrest and possessing burglary tools.
Both men were being held in the Broward County jail as of Wednesday on bonds of more than $30,000.
In bond court Wednesday, prosecutors noted that Etienne has similar open case out of Monroe County.
Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.
