A man’s plan to sell kayaks he had stolen was capsized by excellent work from the victim of the theft and the Cape Coral Police Department’s Property Crimes Unit.

On June 1st, the victim reported two kayaks stolen from the backyard of his residence in Punta Gorda.

On June 12th he located his own kayaks on Facebook Marketplace and initiated a conversation with the seller. Using the Facebook profile and cross-referencing with open-source information, the victim was able to find a home address in Cape Coral and contacted Cape Coral Police for assistance.

Detectives with the CCPD Property Crimes Unit arranged a controlled buy of the kayaks to recover the property and make arrests. In the detective’s Facebook communication with the suspect, the suspect offered two additional kayaks for sale, and a search of recent thefts revealed a second matching crime with a different victim in Cape Coral.

A meet was arranged, and the detectives (in an undercover capacity) met with the suspect, Christopher Moorhead (W/M, DOB: 4-15-97). The detectives executed the controlled buy of the four stolen kayaks, and once the transaction was complete attempted to take Moorhead into custody. Moorhead fled on foot but was chased down and apprehended by the detectives.

All four kayaks were returned to their rightful owners, thanks to the fine work done by both the victim of the crime and the Property Crimes Unit. Christopher Moorhead was arrested and charged with dealing in stolen property, theft, and resisting an officer without violence, as well as for outstanding warrants. He was transported to the Lee County Jail.