A man was arrested after he attempted to take a stolen snowmobile across a lake. Perhaps not surprisingly, the plan didn't work.
File this one under "news of the weird."
Authorities arrested a 29-year-old man recently after the guy stole a snowmobile from a hangar at the Grand Rapids-Itasca County Airport, then tried to make his getaway on the sled by skimming across nearby Lily Lake.
Yes, it's June.
No, he didn't make it.
"He made it several hundred yards across the water before running out of gas," said Jim Martinetto, commander of the Grand Rapids Police Department.
Turns out the fuel line was shut off.
The 2005 Skidoo sank, and the thief swam for shore. Two DNR conservation officers borrowed a rowboat to pluck the guy from the water and turn him over to awaiting police.
They gave him a drier ride -- to jail.
"It's definitely strange," Martinetto said. "We see a lot of snowmobile thefts, but you don't see them in the summertime."
The incident occurred shortly after noon, and there was no evidence that alcohol was involved.
So where would the guy have gone on a snowmobile even if he had made it across the lake?
"Nowhere," Martinetto said. "There was a chain-link fence on the other side of the lake. The whole airport is fenced in to keep deer out."
Officers retrieved the snowmobile.
"It was bright yellow, so it was easy to see in the water," Martinetto said.
He said the man faces burglary and theft of a motor vehicle charges.
Almanac : Snowmobile getaway in June?
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