Tracking system alerts boat owner it was being stolen

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla.,None — A tracking system on a $300,000 boat in Jacksonville alerted its owner, who was in Las Vegas, by text that it was being stolen.

Deputies said Maykel Calderon and Manuel Telles stole the pricey fishing boat, along with a truck, and were driving it to Miami. However, while passing through Brevard County, deputies said they were closing in on the suspects.

The boat owner was sitting at a craps table in Las Vegas when he got an alert on his phone that his boat had been stolen.

He called cops in Jacksonville and they worked with the Florida Highway Patrol and the Brevard County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit to track the suspects down.

"The boat has a tracking system on it and the aircraft already picked him up; has him in the infrared," said Chief pilot John Cappolo.

The suspects realized they were being sought and pulled off the highway into a gas station to get out of their view.  However, law enforcement knew exactly where they were.

Officers closed in on the men and arrested them.

"He's giving up. He has his hands up," an officer is heard saying in the video.

Cappolo said the combination of technologies worked to perfection.

"It makes much quicker work of what would happen out there. It would take a lot more officers a lot more time," Cappolo said.

Officers said the men are facing grand theft charges and are being held in the Brevard County jail.

WFTV