Two nineteen-year-olds, Dane Phillip Christensen of Lenexa and Macgyver Michael Sabin from Gardner and 20-year-old Lukas Trey Helm of Olathe, were all arrested in connection with the thefts.
The out-of-state-men are facing eight counts of breaking or entering, five counts of felony theft of property, one misdemeanor count of theft of property and four counts of criminal trespass.
Helm and Christensen turned themselves in on August 11 followed by Sabin on August 12.
A $15,000 Bond was posted by each of the three men on the day of their arrest and they were released.
Investigators say items were taken from boats docked at Cranfield Marina, Lake Norfork Marina and Panther Bay Marina.
The men are accused of taking GPS devices, fishing poles, tackle boxes, lures and other fishing and boating gear.
Beginning on July 12, reports began coming into the Baxter County Sheriff’s office of thefts from boats at the docks.
Surveillance camera video from the three docks showed the men involved in the break-ins as they climbed over locked entry way doors and made their way along the marina walkways.
They were reported to have come onto the marinas empty handed, but left with multiple items, including fishing gear. The Baxter County Sheriff’s office posted the video as part of the effort to identify the suspects.
According to investigators, a man and his friend were working on a radio in the man’s boat at Cranfield Marina on July 12 last year came in contact with two members of the Kansas trio.
The men left about 10:30 p.m. to get more tools and ran into the two young males on the walkway of Dock 5.
He reported one of the men wanted to talk to him about fishing but he was in a hurry and cut the conversation short.
Surveillance video showed the men to have been in a gold-colored 2004 Lexus. It was discovered by investigators that Christensen was listed as owning such a vehicle.
One major slip up made by a member of the trio at a 24-Hour-Fuel station. All three men went into the store and two of them made cash purchases.
Investigators believe the visit to the store came after the three suspects had stolen items from the Cranfield Marina.
One of them used a tap feature on his phone to pay for a bottle of water.
The account was traced to Helms who was eventually arrested for the crimes.
A bank verified that it was Helm’s account and provided other identifying information on the suspect.
Further investigation showed that Sabin had pawned fishing gear and boating related items at a shop in Independence, Missouri.
Sabin and Christensen were discovered to have been arrested recently for stealing items from a boat dock in Douglas County Missouri.
The value of items stolen from the Missouri dock was estimated at $24,000, including eight electronic fish finders.
As with the thefts in Baxter County, the incidents in Missouri were also captured by surveillance cameras and pictures were posted online by the Douglas County Sheriff’s office.
In the Baxter County cases, Sabin and Helm are being represented by Paul Bayless and Christensen by Emily Reed.
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