Two Essex residents face a list of charges after the Ontario Provincial Police got a tip about what turned out to be a stolen personal watercraft.
Someone called the Essex County OPP Marine Unit to report a possibly impaired boater on August 14. They were operating a personal watercraft in Lake Erie between Colchester and Amherstburg.
Marine Unit members found the watercraft but had no luck contacting the boater and a passenger.
Later, police found the watercraft on the shore, but the two occupants were nowhere to be seen.
Eventually, police identified the duo.
A 35-year-old Essex man now faces charges including possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000, operating a non-human powered pleasure craft without prescribed additional personal life-saving appliances on board and operating a pleasure craft without prescribed competency.
Police also laid a charge of possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000 against a 31-year-old Essex woman.
The charges have not been proven in court, but the two will appear in the Ontario Court of Justice in Windsor.
