One man who allegedly dumps a dead fish at “The Goonies’ house before having to be rescued by members of the U.S. Coast Guard in the wake of a yacht he stole capsizing has been officially taken into custody, according to authorities.
Reportedly, law enforcement officials had been carrying out a search for the suspect since Wednesday of last week when they were made aware of a video that was apparently posted to social media which showed Jaricho Labonte, age 35 and a Canadian national, leaving a fish before dancing his way around the property located in Astoria, Oregon, which is well known from the classic 1985 movie. An acquaintance ended up reporting the video to police officials, explained a report from CBS News. This past Friday, Cost Guard members discovered a mayday call and ended up posting a picture of a yacht which was capsizing due to extremely rough waters during the recent successful rescue of Labonte from the area of the mouth of the Columbia River.
“I kind of got thrown around a little bit by the wave and then when I came up I noticed that the boat was pretty much in shambles,” explained Petty Officer 1st Class Branch Walton, who played the role of the rescue swimmer. “I was actually here for training as a student for the Advanced Helicopter Rescue School. I kind of got called on the case, kind of luck of the draw,” he stated.
(2/4)…who launched motor life boats from STA Cape Disappointment, the air crews arrived on scene to find the vessel floundering in the surf! The surf made rescue by boat dangerous, so the aircrew decided to lower the rescue swimmer and have the owner enter the water for rescue… pic.twitter.com/z92WvzpTG9
— USCGPacificNorthwest (@USCGPacificNW) February 3, 2023
Two aircrews from the Coast Guard ended up hearing the mayday call this past Friday morning while carrying out a training mission, as reported in social media posts from the U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Northwest. They launched a group of rescue ships and found the mayday broadcasting boat “floundering in the surf,” making a rescue by boat far to dangerous. The Coast Guard, instead, put Walton down into the water.
“As he entered the water the vessel capsized but the rescue swimmer was able to safely recover the individual,” expressed the Coast Guard Twitter account. “He was flown back to Coast Guard Base Astoria where EMS was waiting to evaluate and treat the man.”
The suspect from the boat was then quickly moved to an area hospital and treated for their case of mild hypothermia. As part of a Facebook post, the Astoria Police Department explained that it had “received calls from several citizens identifying the rescued victim as Labonte,” but he was officially discharged from the hospital “before his true identity was discovered.”
Allegedly, Labonte covered the cameras used for security for the house and left a dead fish sitting on the porch before coming back later to get the fish back.
The owner of the capsizing yacht has reported it stolen this past Friday, as explained by Astoria Police Chief Stacy Kelly, who did state that it had “been a really odd 48 hours.”
