An intoxicated man is accused of stealing an 82-foot yacht from a Strip District marina and piloting it about a half-mile down the Allegheny River Friday morning, Pittsburgh police said.
Michael Fischer, 38, is accused of breaking into the Lock Wall Marina off 23rd Street Friday morning, then boarding and unmooring the yacht, police spokeswoman Emily Bourne said.
“I took the boat,” Fischer told police, according to a criminal complaint in the case. “I wanted to meet some Pittsburgh Pirates.”
Fischer, who did not have an address listed in court records, was unable to turn on the yacht’s power and instead floated the vessel down the Allegheny River, Bourne said. The yacht came to rest just before 8 a.m. along a river wall — about 50 yards from the Pittsburgh River Rescue boathouse.
Authorities were dispatched to the banks of the Allegheny River at 7:53 a.m., the complaint said. They found Fischer walking on the top deck of the boat.
River rescue boarded the yacht and detained the man, who smelled like alcohol, the complaint said. Pittsburgh EMS medically cleared him. He was charged with theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property and defiant trespassing.
The owner of the yacht arrived on scene and confirmed Fischer had no authority to take the boat, the complaint said.
The marina from which Fischer allegedly stole the yacht does not have fencing around it, the marina’s owner told police. When he opened for the day, he noticed that a boat was gone.
Fischer was unable to post $5,000 bail and taken to Allegheny County Jail. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 1.
No boats or other objects on the Allegheny River were reported as damaged Friday morning.
