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Pair still homeless after crashing stolen sailboat in Morro Bay

May 6, 2015
Geoffrey Mark Ogara

Geoffrey Mark Ogara

Two men attempted to sail their way out of homelessness after stealing a boat in Morro Bay, but their adventure came to a quick halt.

Geoffrey Mark Ogara, 52, and Martin Perez, Jr., 19, stole a sailboat from the docks in the 500 block of the Embarcadero, according to the Morro Bay Police Department. They promptly lost control of the vessel and beached it on the sand spit near Morro Rock.

Around 8 a.m. Monday, police received a report that the boat had been stolen, and Morro Bay Harbor Patrol officers had recovered it. Upon investigating the incident, police learned that Ogara and Perez planned to sail the boat to the open sea.

Martin Perez, Jr.

Martin Perez, Jr.

Officers arrested the men and charged them with grand theft. Ogara and Perez are in San Luis Obispo County Jail with their bail set at $25,000 and $20,000 respectively.

A warrant had been out for Ogara’s arrest due to failure to appear for a misdemeanor charge, according to the jail website.


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One thing that creates a significant amount of disgust for me is the way we talk those whohave no home as ” the homeless” and we no longer speak of them as human beings. One person speaks of “the high cost of dealing with the homeless”. I became homeless once. As a woman, I was raped while sleeping on the beach–and severely traumatized, I came to the conclusion it was not worth living any longer. It was a long, long journey back to being whole again. Well, actually–not whole–but a rather patched up version of that.


I was reading an article called The Geel Question recently, and was stunned. It is about people who take a mentally ill person into their home and then basically just adopt them–treating them as if they were a family member, and taking them to wellness appointments. Here in the US, if a person doesn’t “make the grade”, we like to make fun of them (you can see that here very clearly). In the US, if you happen to become desperate or are no longer in your right mind from relentless childhood trauma–you get a big ‘REJECTION’ stamp—and you are on your own.


It is a shifting paradigm, my friends. We need to start understanding we need to create a more compassionate world. How would you want your son or daughter treated if some really adverse circumstances happened to them? How would you want them treated? Over and over again, I have flashbacks from my trauma. But, it isn’t because of any visits to the beach or anything like that. It is because I see we still ostracize those who arrive at a point of having less. Learned helplessness creates a lot of this. If you beat a child long enough—they WILL come to learn they are not worth anything—and they will act like it. This, to me is very sad. I think they wanted to escape the way the world treated them. I know that feeling.


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Before I enroll in the “adopt-a-bum” program, I’d want to find out why their own family members have abandoned them or why they abandoned their family and/or anyone who has ever cared about them.


Could it be drug abuse which lead to stealing from their families to support their habits? Alcohol abuse, anger issues? Could it be that their families (or anyone who has ever loved them in their entire lives) doesn’t feel safe with them around? How about their criminal records? Felony convictions aren’t conducive to helping one get good jobs.


People just don’t end up on the street. More often than not it is their lifetime of poor decisions and not learning from those decisions manifests itself in the results that you see.


It’s also becoming a lifestyle choice for many able bodied young people in California. That’s where the disgust comes from.


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you should pay the bail for them and invite them to live in your house with you and your family.


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Indigo, thank you for your comments. It sounds like you have worked hard to improve your life. I believe we are a very compassionate community, we just can’t stomach those who walk among us and mean to do us harm!


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Another example of the high cost of dealing with the homeless. It will cost the county, us, tens of thousands of dollars to deal with them. Then, it will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep them in prison.

By the way, were the keys left on the boat or did they hot-wire the ignition? It is probably a good idea to install a “kill switch” to prevent someone from starting the engine.


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yet another report of ‘homeless’ people committing crimes against citizens. Honestly, as we try to be tolerant of those less fortunate a couple of bad apples are waiting to steal (boat), everyday we give money, food, clothing to charities, we must be generous to those who are truly trying to better themselves. I’ve volunteered for a local charity and felt the small amount of help I could give was appreciated (young fisherman came to town to work, but didn’t have warm clothes or sleeping bags to go out in the boat) they were given what we had and they came back after working and gave what they had. It is so disheartening to read about these homeless men , seemingly able to help themselves, taking advantage of a boat moored but not occupied. Were they at the waterfront watching for an opportunity to steal? We need to protect ourselves from those who lurk about our community and take advantage of unsuspecting people. I’m still worried for women driving alone (latest article about the woman at highway 41/Main in MB who stopped to use her cell phone and was accosted by thugs (homeless it was reported), who took her phone and accosted her!! We think we are safe in our community, because of our superior law enforcement, but we still have to be on the alert! It’s sad, but true!


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The present day Truman show.


Hey fellas, instead of trying to sail your way out of homelessness, how about work your way out of it. That doesn’t even involve grand theft.


Bums.


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Why does Morro Bay hate the homeless so much? How about directing some of your anger into finding these gentlemen a place to live.


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Hey folks- slophocles, asks us rhetorically “How about directing some of your anger

into finding these gentlemen a place to live.”


Well, hey, slophocles- how about your place? As an example, in her post on May 7 at

8:25 a.m. indigo1955 refers to “an article called The Geel Question”, which she says:


“… is about people who take a mentally ill person into their home and then basically just

adopt them– treating them as if they were a family member, and taking them to wellness

appointments.”


So, slophocles, you’ve raised a great point. Now it looks like this is a great opportunity

for you to step to the plate and demonstrate your genuine concern. So, here’s your

chance to adopt some of these “gentlemen” and guide them back into the normalized

world.


Let us know- will you do this? Oh, yeah, and be sure to keep us advised of how it’s all

turning out for you.


And, lest we forget, thank you so much for your ongoing genuine concern for your fellow

humankind.


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better lock the liquor cabinet and hide the valuables if you do take them in sophocles.


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I have no valuables because I do not covet. As for the liquor, that’s easily replaceable.


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That’s an original argument. I’ve never heard that argument before. Problem is, it really doesn’t address the issue.


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How can one possibly believe that anyone in MB hates the homeless? Are you aware of how many times each week community groups provide free, cooked meals at the park on the 41?

Are you aware that one of the local churches has a free Food Bank every Saturday? The serve over 100 people every week.

They provide enough food for each person for the week. Have you gone to the Motel 6 early in the month?

These folks get there SS Disability checks, rent a room for multiple numbers of them and crash with

booze. At some point people have to become self reliant. We have so many homeless in Morro bay

because we provide way too much.


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I’m going primarily by the posts I read here. Those meals that are provided are usually very starchy and demeaning for the homeless to have to sit down with other homeless people for a free meal. There’s a thing called human dignity. That food bank should be going seven days a week and if the churches really want to serve God, should start letting the homeless sleep in the churches overnight. Then there’s the old Motel 6 argument, suggesting that every homeless person is on some type of assistance and blows it all in one week, or weekend at the Motel 6. If Motel 6 lowered their rates for these people, they could stay there for 30 days a month and stay off the streets and not bother the very sensitive residents of this town. Or, the city could just build them a safe, clean place to live – a little trailer community or something in the Albertsons parking lot. No one is self-reliant though we like to think we are. We have homeless in Morro Bay because of the weather – you can sleep outside practically 365 days a year – that is what Morro Bay provides for the homeless – good weather and a tree-lined creek – hey, there’s an idea – cut down all those trees along the creek! Then, where would the bastards go?


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slop…how about your house?


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Good argument. No one ever uses that.


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If they only had a brain.


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I don’t blame them for wanting out of Morro Bay….it’s being run by lunatics.


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Assuming that the “lunatics” you refer to are our current mayor and city council members, I am not sure that they have been diagnosed with any mental disorders, and if they were, I do not believe that the terms “lunatic” or “lunacy” are currently recognized by the DSM. I could be wrong about that, but probably not.


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Ya kinda wanna root for these two. Might make a good SNL sketch.


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How loudly would you be rooting if it were your boat?


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I keep hearing “The Odd Couple” theme every time I think of them trying to sail that thing out of the bay.


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How does one “lose control” of a sailboat?! Under power that thing probably does 5 kts. LOL!


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Growing up, their parents probably did not belong to the yacht club.


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Or maybe even worked hard like commercial fishermen?


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