An insomniac live-aboard owner of a yacht docked in Fort Lauderdale was startled early Sunday to feel the vessel rock, followed by the thud of footsteps and the murmur of voices coming from the deck above.
It was about 3:18 a.m. aboard the Ocean Cowboy, a 43-foot Hatteras Sportfish motor yacht, docked at 230 Hendricks Isle, according to a police report.
Paul “Jeremy” Pettus went for a rifle under the sofa, while his husband, Josh Pettus, crept to sneak a peek at the four teens who were rummaging through a black leather bag containing medical supplies and medication for diabetes, Pettus said.
Josh Pettus yelled at the boys, sent them running and gave chase.
Self-described insomniac Jeremy Pettus called 911, grabbed his keys and raced his SUV to block the bridge from the Hendricks Isle onto Las Olas Boulevard — the only way off the isle.
“It was instinctual,” Jeremy Pettus, 45, said of his 34-year-old husband’s impulse to chase the boys and his reflex to blockade their escape route.
“It’s kind of a fight or flight,” he said. “We work hard for what we have, so this was more fight than flight.”
The couple’s 70-pound pitbull, Lakota, meanwhile, slept through the entire commotion, Jeremy Pettus said.
Fort Lauderdale officers, with the aid of a police dog and a helicopter, quickly rounded up four boys, two 15- and two 16-year-olds. Three were from Miramar and one was from Pembroke Pines, an arrest report said.
Because they are juveniles, the South Florida Sun Sentinel is not naming the boys.
One of the teen’s was found hiding in nearby bushes, two others were on a neighbor’s property and the fourth boy was on the same neighbor’s roof, Jeremy Pettus said.
The boys were taken to the Fort Lauderdale Police Department’s jail, booked on burglary and theft charges and transferred to juvenile hall, or the Juvenile Assessment Center at 2600 SW 4th Ave. in Fort Lauderdale.
“It could have been really bad; we keep guns on the boat,” Jeremy Pettus said. “I hope they’ve earned a valuable lesson.”
tealanez@sun-sentinel.com, 954-356-4542 or Twitter @talanez