Victoria Clipper suspect identified; Level 3 sex offender

SEATTLE — Suspect Samuel McDonough, 33, in handcuffs and wearing a life preserver, said nothing as he was led away by Seattle police.  It was an uneventful end to a drama that began seven hours earlier when the Victoria Clipper CEO watched a vessel he thought was out of service navigate out into Puget Sound.

"This individual proceeded south down along by the Ferris Wheel and down around that, made a loop," said Darell Bryan. "So didn't know what the heck he was doing."

But Bryan knew whoever was on board was not an employee.  So he called the U.S. Coast Guard and Foss Maritime Company so it could send a tugboat to keep the vessel off the rocks.  And the Coast Guard called Seattle police.

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The 33-year-old suspect was booked into the King County Jail on burglary, malicious mischief, reckless endangerment and failure to register as a sex offender.  KIRO 7 uncovered that he is a level 3 sex offender.

He makes his first court appearance Monday.

And a bomb sniffing dog.  Chopper 7 was overhead as they boarded the Victoria Clipper 4 -- and took the man into custody.  He was sitting and with a white towel on his head.  He told officers he was headed to West Seattle.   Seven hours later, he was back on land. His escapade caused minor damage to the vessel, kept some passengers grounded.  And left the Clipper CEO baffled.

"What it doesn't explain is how the heck the guy knew what to do," mused Darell Bryan. "I don't think his employment opportunities are going to be too great after he leaves here. But he apparently has some mechanical aptitude."

McDonough told the Clipper's crew that he boarded the ship by getting up on a metal counter, climbing through a gap in the fence.

“Sam was a troubled kid,” Dionna Calvo said. She went to school with McDonough and ran into him recently in downtown Seattle.

Calvo said he asked her for money and appeared to be on drugs. “He was in a bad place 3:30 in the morning walking around downtown with nothing to lose,” she said.

CEO Bryan said there hasn't been a breach like this in the company's 28-year history.  He promised that the gap McDonough got through will be closed Monday morning. Perhaps a barbed wire will be put atop it, too.

Founded in 1986, the Victoria Clipper is part of Clipper Navigation Inc., which is privately held. The Clipper provides high-speed passenger-only ferry service from downtown Seattle to the Inner Harbour of downtown Victoria, British Columbia. The one-way trip is about three hours, and at capacity the Clipper can hold about 320 passengers.

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