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Subscribe to RSSA Miami boat captain was arrested this week for first-degree grand theft for stealing a $1.86 million yacht from a Key Biscayne dock and then sinking it off the Bahamas three years ago, state authorities said.
Robert Figueredo, 49, of Miami was arrested this week by detectives from the Florida Department of Financial Services’ Division of Insurance Fraud and was booked into the Miami-Dade County Jail, authorities said.
The 80-foot yacht Star One was discovered scuttled in a part of the Atlantic known as the “Tongue of the Ocean” offshore from the Bahamas on May 3, 2009. It was reported stolen from Key Biscayne the next day, according to authorities.
“There is no such thing as a victimless crime,” Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater said as he announced Figueredo’s arrest Thursday. “Those who reap the spoils of perpetuating fraud victimize every Florida consumer. Those who cheat their fellow Floridians out of their hard-earned dollars will be captured and put behind bars.”
The ship’s owner said it had been taken from its dock at his Key Biscayne home and filed a claim with the Federated Insurance Company for the loss, the arrest affidavit against Figueredo says.
Figueredo’s ex-girlfriend told police that he had bragged to her that he sunk the boat deliberately, but he told the insurance company that he had no knowledge of the theft of the Star One, authorities said.
However, a witness told an investigator that Figueredo offered to pay him if he would pick him up in the Bahamas and bring him back to Miami, with Figueredo saying “that he was taking the Star One to the Bahamas so a potential buyer could look (at) it,” the affidavit says.
On May 3, 2009, the witness took his boss’s vessel and followed the Star One, stopping to fish along the way. When he caught up to the Star One, Figueredo and another man were on board as it was taking on water, but Figueredo told him not to make a mayday call “and to get out of there,” according to the affidavit.
The witness was furious that Figueredo would involve him and his boss’s boat in the crime and said that “no one said a word all the way back to Miami,” the affidavit says.
Figueredo did not receive any payment from the insurance company, Atwater’s press secretary, Anna A. Alexopoulos, said.
When asked if there are any other targets in the investigation, Alexopoulos said, "The investigation is still ongoing and as such, can only confirm details in the press release and the affidavit."
If convicted, Figueredo faces up to 30 years in prison.
The Department of Financial Services, which Atwater oversees, asked anyone with information on this case or other suspected insurance frauds to call 1-800-378-0445. The department’s anti-fraud reward program can provide people up to $25,000 for information that leads directly to an arrest and conviction for an insurance fraud scheme.
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I am a little surprised it has taken 3 years for anyone to come forward. Even the helper that feels slighted by being involved.
Smells funny! The helper probably was tired of waiting for his money since the insurance company never paid.
It does seem fishy.
Something does not make sense about this story. From the story Figueredo was not the owner of the yacht, so how was he going to gain anything from scuttling it. I do not understand why Figueredo would be entitled to any payment from the insurance company, so the statement that he did not receive any payment, implying that the insurance company refused to pay him, makes absolutely no sense. The owner would be the one to collect on any insurance claim. The article say nothing about whether the owner was ever paid by the insurance company for the theft/loss of the yacht. Something tells me that Figueredo was paid by the owner to scuttle the yacht in some insurance scam. Otherwise I do not understand what Figueredo's motivation would have been for his actions unless he was monumentally pissed off at the owner for some reason.
This is one extremely poorly written story that raises more questions than it answers. In particular, why is it implied that there is some relationship between Figueredo and the insurance company. I also wonder why they do not identify the yacht's owner.
jsinsd; yep, I agree; Journalism is not their best endeavor.
For a while I though I was the one with a reading comprehension problem (actually had to read it twice). Glad to know that others are having similar difficulties with this poorly written article. The author needed to clarify who owned the boat. It would also be nice to know the identity and relationship of the second person who was on the boat while it was taking on water.
This is an example of incredibly poor writing and sloppy reporting. Colby and Franklin need to go back to journalism school. Either Figueredo and the ship's owner are one and the same, or Figueredo was committing the crime on behalf of the ship's owner who is not named. The story does not give any indication as to which of these suppositions is true. Whatever these two so-called 'journalists' are being paid it is way too much.
Good to see another 1 % er with a fancy yacht getting theirs.
Go OWS !!
Yeah,they're getting their insurance money you dip@!$%#.
1.8 million and 80 feet rates as a low end wannbe McYacht.... gotta supersize that dingy..
$2 Million yacht sunk = 30 years in jail.
Worlds economy sunk in the Trillions by the banks = year end bonus for the bankers!
Nice to see the system working as usual.
@Robbie... Did I miss the part where the article said he's a rich WHITE guy? Must have, unless you're just trying to drag the race card somewhere that it doesn't fit. LOL
....I am completely amazed that someone would name this very expensive yacht "Tongue of the Ocean".....wha????
I would be, too. Good thing they didn't.
that isn't the name of the yacht.
re-read the article.
Look some more, there is always a rich white man behind a crime like this. The owner of the yacht is the one who will collect, IMHO the Captain is only doing it under his order. Arrest the freaken owner.
It sounds like he might have been the owner. Only the owner can file an insurance claim.
The article was never really clear if the captian (Figueredo) was actually the owner. They referred to Figueredo and "the owner" seperately, but never said that he was both the owner and captian, but also never mentions that "the owner" had hired this guy to sink the yacht, so it is sort of implied. But it also says he stole the yacht. If he was the owner, he wouldn't have had to steal it. Really unclear, poorly written article.
Owner probably hired him to steal it, so he could report it stolen. If so, expect Figueredo to start singing real soon.
Congratulations Robbie. It never takes long for race or politics to get into a comment thread that has nothing to do with either.
Insurance fraud is a growth industry in South Florida. Thousands of vehicles have been "stolen" and dumped into area lakes and canals over the years, too. A great way to get out from under your note if you can't make your payments anymore. Same goes with boats. There's a great big ocean out there where all kinds of things can be made to disappear. In this case, it sounds like one or more of the participants blabbed. Nice that they were caught, but they could have easily gotten away with it if they just kept their yappers shut.
I'm confused. Why have they not arrested the owner? The owner is the only one who can collect on the insurance policy.
This story is written very poorly!!! You make it sound like Figueredo is the owner possibly, but you never really say that. Very confusing - what's the point of telling a story when the people that read it have no idea what happened when they get done reading it?
Lame writing
This story doesn't pass the smell test.
The author did not make it clear whether the owner and Figuero were the same person. This information should have been available in tax documents and by police reports reporting the theft. The article says the "owner" reported it stolen so the journalist should heve found this information with the name of the owner.
Poorly written. I am a former journalist.
This is one captain that didn't go down with his ship. Wait....maybe down to the jail. Yeah, that's it.
I'm sure the ex-girlfriend part didn't help matters.
Am I the only one amazed that this guy faces up to 30 years, while rapists and pedophiles typically get only a fraction of that? I reckon that shows who is the more important vicitim in our society ... the insurance companies.
And this has nothing at all, even remotely, to do with that. Got some kind of obsession going on there or what, Gruud? A guy sunk his own boat and tried to glom the insurance money, and you somehow turned it into rapists and pedophiles -- what's wrong with you anyhow? LOL
Very confusing article. Colby and Franklin must have missed some classes at journalism school.
Ah, the bitter ex-girlfriend. Yep, that'll do it alright! LOL
Figueredo was arrested for Grand Theft which would imply that the owner had no connection with the crime. The boat is apparently named the "Star One". Figueredo seems to have stolen the boat and had a buyer set up, but he scuttled the boat when the sell did not go through.
However, a local story states that the owner has a suit against the insurance company. The insurance company contends that the owner hired Figueredo to steal and scuttle the boat.