An unidentified man walked into the Ship Store at Sailfish Marina Resort on Singer Island around 7:10 pm on August 18, and walked out having taken something that wasn't his, according to investigators. Now the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office is asking the public to help put a name to his face.
The Ship Store sits alongside the Sailfish Marina restaurant, and PBSO says the man entered that stretch of the property before the theft occurred, according to PBSO. Investigators describe him as wearing a polo shirt, shorts and dark-colored sneakers, though no further physical description or surveillance image has been released publicly. The exact items taken and their value have not been disclosed, a detail that matters because Florida law draws a hard line between petty and felony theft.
A High-Traffic Waterfront Backdrop
Sailfish Marina Resort is no quiet back-alley storefront. The property at 98 Lake Drive includes a 74-slip marina with four docks able to handle vessels up to 180 feet, according to VISIT FLORIDA. Beyond the Ship Store, the resort runs an on-site restaurant and Tiki Bar, water taxi service to Peanut Island, charter fishing boats, and a weekly Thursday night Sunset Celebration that draws locals and visitors alike, per Sailfish Marina's own site. That kind of constant foot traffic from boaters, diners and tourists could complicate efforts to isolate exactly who was on the property at the time of the theft.
The town itself adds another wrinkle. Palm Beach Shores sits on the southern tip of Singer Island and is recognized as the easternmost municipality in Florida, according to background cited from Wikipedia, putting the marina directly across the Lake Worth Inlet from West Palm Beach. The Port of Palm Beach District has even hosted business meetings at the resort as recently as April 2026, underscoring its role as a working maritime hub rather than just a tourist stop.
Why County Deputies Are Leading The Case
Palm Beach Shores does not run its own police department. The town merged its policing into Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office District 20 in November 2019, a move projected to save roughly $500,000 a year, according to coverage from WPEC. That contract arrangement is why county deputies, not a municipal force, are the ones fielding tips on the Ship Store case.
If the value of what was taken reaches $750, Florida Statute § 812.014 would classify the theft as third-degree grand theft, a felony carrying up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, per legal background from the Jeff T. Gorman Law Offices. Anything below that threshold would likely be charged as misdemeanor petit theft instead. Because PBSO has not released the value or description of the stolen property, it remains an open question which charge, if any, the man could eventually face. Retail theft involving altered price tags or repeat offenses can also draw enhanced charges under a separate statute, Florida Statute § 812.015, according to the Brancato Law Firm, though nothing in PBSO's appeal indicates that provision applies here.
Part Of A Broader Retail Theft Push
This is not the only retail theft case PBSO detectives have worked recently. Earlier this year, the department's investigators helped crack a multi-jurisdictional case tied to 39 store thefts across Florida, as Hoodline previously reported in connection with a Pompano Beach man arrested over a Lake Park trading-card theft. Whether the Sailfish Marina case connects to any wider pattern has not been established, and PBSO's request is currently limited to identifying this one man.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County at 1-800-458-TIPS, where tipsters can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $3,000 for information leading to an arrest, according to Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County. Tips can also be submitted through the MyPD app. Residents can alternatively reach PBSO's non-emergency line at (561) 688-3400 for non-urgent details related to the case, per the Town of Palm Beach Shores.
