Police don’t have to look far to find missing yacht

Police responding to reports of a stolen yacht that disappeared from its Galveston dock made a bizarre discovery: They found a woman aboard the boat at a nearby pier.

And she readily confessed to the theft, police said.

“We haven’t had an act of piracy in quite some time,” Galveston police Lt. Xavier Hancock said Wednesday. “No one was more surprised than us.”

The incident unfolded late Tuesday morning, when the boat’s owner told police her 52foot Jefferson Monticello motor yacht was missing from its berth at 6130 Heards Lane on Offatts Bayou, Hancock said.

Officers found the boat moored to a nearby pier less than two hours later, Hancock said. On board was Renee Waguespack — and she had a strange story for police.

“She wasn’t hiding,” Hancock said. “She was not in any way trying to deny that she took it.”

Waguespack could not explain why she had taken the yacht, telling responding officers “the rightful owner of the boat had sold it to someone else.”

It was unclear when Waguespack had driven the motorized yacht across the bayou or what had prompted the excursion, police said.

After noting Waguespack’s incoherent story, officers searched the 45-year-old and found nothing. They took her to the Galveston County Jail, where a full search turned up a substance believed to be methamphetamine.

Officers discovered about 4 grams of a “contraband substance” in a “secretive” location “on her person,” said Hancock, who declined to elaborate.

Waguespack was charged with possession of a controlled substance, a third-degree felony. She remained in custody as of Wednesday morning, according to jail records.

Police — along with U.S. Coast Guard and Galveston County sheriff ’s marine units, who assisted in the investigation — were left searching for answers Wednesday.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Hancock said.