BC man wanted for leaving dead fish at “Goonies” house rescued off stolen yacht (VIDEO)

Feb 5 2023, 7:41 pm

Editor’s Note: A video in this article contains language that may be offensive to some. 

A BC man rescued off a yacht that he allegedly stole has been identified as a man who also placed a dead fish on the front porch of the “The Goonies” house.

Dramatic video of the chilling rescue operation was shared by U.S. Coast Guards who say it arrived “in the nick of time,” after it received a mayday call. 

Motorboats and air crews made it to the scene to find the boat in choppy waters at the mouth of the Columbia River. 

“The surf made rescue by boat dangerous, so the aircrew decided to lower the rescue swimmer and have the owner enter the water for rescue,” the Coast Guard said in a tweet. 

In one video, the rescue swimmer can be seen approaching the boat just before a massive wave topples it. 

“As he entered the water the vessel capsized,” the Coast Guard said. 

The BC man was eventually rescued, flown back to Coast Guard Base Astoria and has since been identified to the Astoria Police Department as 35-year-old Jericho Labonte.

According to Astoria Police, on Friday it received a call from Port Security Chief who said the vessel involved in the Coast Guard rescue was stolen from the Port of Astoria.

“He recognized the vessel on the video, contacted the owner, and confirmed that it had been stolen,” police explained. “At about the same time, we received calls from several citizens identifying the rescued victim as Labonte.”


A few days before that, on February 1, police received a report that Labonte had shared a video of himself on Facebook laying a dead fish on the front porch of the house ‘The Goonies” was filmed in. 


“Labonte is wanted on charges of Theft I, Endangering another Person, Unauthorized Use of a Vehicle, and Criminal Mischief II,” Astoria Police add. 

According to Victoria police, Labonte is also wanted in BC for “five unendorsed warrants for charges of criminal harassment, mischief and three counts of failure to comply.”

After Labonte was rescued, he was transported to a hospital and discharged before he was identified as the suspect.

He was later found at warming centre where he was then taken into custody, Astoria Police said. 

Nikitha MartinsNikitha Martins

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