A newly appointed California city official was arrested over the weekend after allegedly attempting to steal a yacht, less than three weeks after taking over the municipality’s top administrative role.
Elaine Forbes, the 53-year-old city manager of Sausalito, was taken into custody shortly before 7 a.m. on Saturday by the Marin County Sheriff’s Office, the Marin Independent Journal first reported. Forbes, who previously spent nine years running the Port of San Francisco, faces felony burglary charges following an incident at a local dock.
According to sheriff’s deputies, Forbes allegedly boarded at least two vessels docked near a local restaurant, including a boat named the Lisa Marie.
A yacht captain, Bill Aubrey, was moored nearby and first noticed the disturbance when he heard a boat horn blaring at around 5:30 a.m., according to The San Francisco Standard. Aubrey said he had found Forbes inside the wheelhouse, where she looked at him and replied, “Good morning!” pleasantly, after he had boarded the vessel and told her to get off.
Investigators stated that she appeared to try to start one of the vessels by manipulating its switches and control levers. Authorities also noted that alcohol bottles on board the vessels had been opened and either consumed or poured out.
Residents reported hearing a disturbance at the harbor early Saturday morning. Michael Lappert, a witness at the scene, told ABC7 San Francisco that a boat horn was sounded continuously for nearly two hours before police intervened.
“She was honking the horn, all these large yachts have a very loud horn because you’re out in the ocean and you gotta be heard so when you honk that thing I think most people have heard what those sound like,” Lappert said.
The arrest comes amid recent adjustments to Forbes’ employment status, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. On Thursday, the Sausalito City Council held a closed-door session and approved an immediate leave of absence for the city manager, though local officials declined to provide specific reasons for the decision at the time.
The Sausalito City Council voted unanimously in May to hire Forbes, according to a city news release. She officially started her job on July 1 with a base salary of $275,000, the LA Times reported.
“Elaine has proven to be a strong executive and it’s important for this community to have a strong executive to help us sort through the many issues that we face,” Mayor Steven Woodside said at the time, according to the city news release.
“People from around the world save money and dream of coming to Sausalito for very good reasons. I’m incredibly honored to join this community,” Forbes said at the City Council meeting in which she was appointed.
Following her arrest, the City of Sausalito released a statement acknowledging the situation.
“This is a difficult development for our City staff and our community,” the statement read, adding that the municipality would withhold further comment due to the active criminal investigation.
A representative for Forbes’ family, public relations executive Sam Singer, issued a statement asking the public not to rush to judgment.
“Elaine is experiencing a mental health crisis,” Singer wrote. “As the facts become clearer and Elaine obtains legal and healthcare counsel in the coming hours and days, we hope people will respond with compassion, patience and respect for her and her family during an extraordinarily difficult time.”
Forbes remained in custody as of late Sunday afternoon, according to booking records.
