Thieves make off with valued boat dedicated to late father

NAPLES, Fla.- A 17-foot boat was stolen right out of the driveway of a home on Harbor Road, near Estey Avenue, the owner said.

“They stole everything… the motor, the boat, the trailer,” said Kevin MaGuire. “There was a boat over here and about a week ago, sometime last Sunday night or early Monday morning between 12 and 6 in the morning, the boat disappeared.”

For MaGuire and his family, the boat isn’t just any Boston Whaler.

“There’s a dedication in memory of my father, with an ‘in loving memory’ sticker on the back of it,” MaGuire said. “Anytime I was on the boat, I felt like I was fishing with him again, just like growing up.”

The boat, Miss Aria, was named after MaGuire’s dog who passed away and it’s also dedicated to his father who died of cancer in 2001.

MaGuire and his family take it out each year to where they spread his father’s ashes.

“It meant a lot to not only myself but the family,”MaGuire said. “So… shock, sadness, basically like grieving the loss all over again.”

The theft comes on the heels of a string of boat motor thefts in both Collier and Charlotte counties.

“At some point you have to cut your losses I guess, but I don’t want to do that quite yet,” said Maguire.

If you have any information on the theft, call the Collier County Sheriff’s Office at 239-252-9250.