COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A 52-year-old man took a stranger's boat for a drunken joy ride through Burhnam Harbor this weekend after he found the keys inside the boat's cabin, prosecutors said.
Garth Whalen, 52, was arrested about 6 p.m. Sunday after police received multiple calls about a boat speeding through Burnham Harbor and crashing into docked boats in the South Loop harbor, Assistant State's Attorney Erin Antonietti said during a bond hearing Monday.
Whalen had broken into the locked boat earlier that afternoon and found the keys inside the cabin, prosecutors said.
He proceeded to cruise through the harbor, crashing into five boats, according to police. Antonietti said four of the vessels were unoccupied at the time; a dog was inside the fifth.
When a police boat pulled over Whalen and officers boarded the vessel, Antonietti said, it was taking on water due to excessive damage from the crashes. The boat — which is owned by a suburban Winnetka man who doesn't know Whalen — is valued at more than $300,000, authorities said.
According to an arrest report, Whalen smelled like alcohol and told police, "It's not my boat. I didn't do anything." Whalen then told the officers he wasn't driving, the report said, but police found no one else on board.
After Whalen was arrested in the 1500 block of South Lynn White Drive, he was charged with burglary, possession of a stolen vehicle, operating a boat under the influence of alcohol and five counts of criminal damage to property.
Cook County Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. on Monday ordered Whalen held in lieu of $100,000 bail.
Police said Whalen has been previously convicted of driving under the influence.
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