Skagit County, Washington- The Skagit County Sheriff’s Office responded to reports of a Burglary and theft from a farm in the 15000 block of Bow Hill Road on July 15th, 2016.
Among the items missing were a rototiller, Honda Lawnmower, Sears Lawnmower, carts of picking strawberries, irrigation fittings and a custom homemade wooden “dory” boat with trailer. Detectives assigned the boat trailer as stolen and SkagitBreaking.com shared photos of the Missing Boat out to our audience.
Stolen Dory Boat
Deputies were able to obtain surveillance video from a local store that showed a gray Nissan Pathfinder pulling a boat and trailer that looked similar to the one that had been reported stolen. Deputies identified the owner of the vehicle, as Matthew Staniford.
On July 19th, 2016 around 12:07 pm Mount Vernon Police responded to reports of a suspicious vehicle parked in the alley behind a residence in the 1700 block of East Blackburn Road.
Mount Vernon Officers made contact with, Matthew Staniford who was sitting in the vehicle near the entrance to the Blackburn Storage Terminal.
Mr. Staniford told Officers the boat they were looking for was behind the storage building. Officers located a Wooden “dory” boat and trailer inside the fenced area of the property but not in a specific storage locker. The boat trailer did not have any license plates on it at the time it was found. Mount Vernon Officers had the boat towed to the Police Impound Lot.
Mr. Staniford later provided a recorded interview claiming he found the boat abandoned in Whatcom County and he claimed to have called and talked to the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office to determine if the vehicle was stolen. He admitted to talking to a deputy who told him he wasn’t sure if the boat was stolen but if it was, Staniford would be responsible for it if he took it.
Surveillance video was obtained, showing Staniford towing the boat into the storage facility on July 18th, 2016.
On July 20th, 2016, the rightful owners of the boat examined the Dory boat at the Mount Vernon Police Department and positively identified the boat as theirs. He was able to do so because he hand built the craft himself.
In a separate theft case involving Mr. Staniford, an Anacortes Resident reported to the Anacortes Police Department that Mr. Staniford has stolen a laptop computer and several vintage books from her, including an expensive Shakespeare, she valued at nearly $20,000. The victims mother had seen Staniford in the hallway near the room where the books had been stolen from. A lock on the door to the room had been cut off.
Anacortes Officers made contact with Mr. Staniford and he admitted to being in the residence but he blamed someone else for stealing the books and blamed the victim for other crimes.
On July 20th, 2016, a search warrant for Stanifords Vehicle was approved and conducted on the vehicle. While searching the vehicle, Officers found three vintage books in the vehicle. The books matched the list of missing books reported stolen by Staniford from the home in Anacortes. Officers valued one of the books at $2000 but had not determined the values of the other two books.
Matthew Staniford, with a last known address on Warner Street in Sedro Woolley is currently being held in the Skagit County Jail in Lieu of $30,000 bail for the following charges: Possession of Stolen Property 1st, Possession of Stolen Property 2nd degree and Theft 3rd Degree.
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