Man accused of leaving fish at ‘Goonies’ house indicted for stealing, wrecking yacht

CLATSOP COUNTY Ore. (KPTV) - A Canadian man accused of leaving a dead fish on ‘The Goonies’ house porch and stealing a boat on Feb. 3 was indicted by a Clatsop County grand jury on Wednesday, according to court documents.

Jericho Wolf Labonte, 35, was indicted for one count each of first-degree theft, unauthorized use of a vehicle, second-degree criminal mischief and recklessly endangering another person.

According to Seaside police, Labonte was taken into custody by the U.S. Coast Guard immediately after his Feb. 3 arrest and placed at an ICE facility in Washington state, where his extradition back to Canada would be arranged.

The Wednesday indictment did not include a court date, and FOX 12 was unable to learn whether Labonte was still in ICE custody, or if he had been returned to Canada.

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According to court documents, Labonte is charged with stealing the “Sandpiper,” a yacht valued at $10,000 or more, putting that boat in “substantial and unjustifiable risk” and then causing more than $500 damage to the stolen property.

Finally, Labonte is also charged with putting U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmer John Walton at risk.

A few days before Labonte allegedly stole the Sandpiper, a man appearing to be Labonte was caught on security footage placing a dead fish on the porch of a famous house from ‘The Goonies’ movie.

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Authorities have not released any information about his alleged reasons or motives.

Then, on the morning of Feb. 3, the U.S Coast Guard received a “Mayday” broadcast from a boat in the Columbia River mouth, near where two Coast Guard aircrews were on a training mission.

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The crews immediately notified authorities at Cape Disappointment, who launched rescue boats. But when the Coast Guard crews found the Sandpiper with Labonte onboard alone, they realized the surf would make rescue by boat too dangerous and lowered a rescue swimmer to reach him by water.

Just before the swimmer, John Walton, reached the boat, a wave swept over the two men and rolled the boat completely over.

Labonte was tossed into the ocean, but when Walton surfaced again, he was able to find Labonte and get him up and into the rescue helicopter.

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At about 1 p.m., the Coast Guard posted pictures and video of the dramatic rescue on Twitter. The story was quickly shared by other accounts.

According to the City of Astoria website, the social media post reached the Port of Astoria security chief, who recognized the Sandpiper as a boat that had been stolen from the port earlier that day. He confirmed with the owner, then called the police.

The City of Astoria said police also heard from other callers that day who said they recognized the rescued man as Labonte and the man from the ‘Goonies’ house fish incident.

Additionally, police learned that Labonte was wanted by police in Victoria, British Columbia, for criminal harassment, mischief, and failure to comply with officers.

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The emergency responders had taken Labonte to a local hospital for a medical check, but before police learned about his identity at about 3 p.m., he was allowed to check out and leave.

Police began to search for Labonte and found him around 7:30 p.m. at the Seaside Helping Hands Warming Shelter. He was arrested without incident and placed at a Washington state ICE facility.

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