You might think "Coast Guard barely rescues dude from likely death after massive wave swamps his yacht" is about as wild as one story can get:
But trust me: It gets much weirder.
A man wanted by police in Oregon in a bizarre incident at a house featured in "The Goonies" was the subject of a daring Coast Guard rescue when he was tossed from a stolen boat as it capsized, authorities said.
That's a lot to take in. Apparently this fellow, Jericho Labonte, had come down from Canada to Astoria, Oregon for reasons unknown.
While in the town — known famously as the shooting location for the classic Spielberg movie "The Goonies" — he apparently had a local resident take him fishing, according to an ABC News report.
And evidently he caught at least one fish:
On Wednesday, police in Astoria, Oregon, received a report that a man had left a dead fish on the porch of the house used in the "The Goonies," police said in a news release. ...
CNN affiliate KGW reported that surveillance video at the house showed the man laying the fish on the porch and making a cell phone video of it before walking away. Police searched two days for the man, identified as 35-year-old Jericho Labonte.
Okay, so, dude comes down from Canada, catches a fish, chucks it at a famous house (and then "danced around the property," according to ABC), and then leaves. Got it.
After that, he somehow ends up on a large yacht. How?
After images of the water rescue aired, police said they received a call from the Astoria port security chief saying the vessel in the rescue had been stolen earlier in the day.
Okay, dude crosses an international border, catches a fish, chucks the fish on a porch, does a dance, goes to a marina, steals a giant boat, swamps it and gets rescued by the Coast Guard.
So that's it, right?
No, not yet:
The hospital had already released Labonte when police saw the Coast Guard photos and video and realized it was the same person who they said covered over security cameras at the Goonies house and left the dead fish on the porch.
He did all that...and he was still able to walk away before anyone figured it out.
Thankfully, the strange fellow has since been arrested; he is also reportedly wanted in Canada on several criminal charges.
The Astoria police chief, meanwhile, put it best:
"It's been a really odd 48 hours."
Understatement of the year.
