ORLEANS — Had he arrived at his own bench trial on time, May 20 might have marked the end of Kevin Berry’s two-year boat odyssey. But arrive on time Berry — 56, who lives in Wellfleet and works for the town’s dept. of public works — did not. So, District Court Judge Charles Welch gave Berry a do-over. On July 8 at 9 a.m. he’ll stand trial for receiving stolen property valued at more than $1,200; intimidating a witness, juror, police, or court official; and conspiracy to commit larceny over $1,200. All are felonies.
Michael Ziemba walked into the Wellfleet police station on May 16, 2019 looking for help. A year before, he said, the Wellfleet harbormaster had towed his 2005 Carolina skiff to the town storage yard (the “sandpit”) for winter safekeeping. He checked on his skiff in February; it hadn’t moved. Then May rolled around, and “several people,” Ziemba said — according to Det. Geraldine LaPense’s police report — broke the news that they’d seen his boat parked on Kevin Berry’s Dale Avenue property. Ziemba set out on recon: his boat was indeed visible from the roadway by Berry’s house.
Ziemba wanted to give Berry an opportunity to return the boat, he told LaPense. He said he offered Berry “several chances,” but at every turn, Berry refused. So, he involved Assistant Harbormaster William Sullivan, who confirmed to LaPense that he’d seen Ziemba’s boat on Berry’s property. Trying “to help negotiate its return,” Sullivan had haggled with some of Berry’s co-workers at the DPW. He had no luck.
Hence Ziemba’s police-station trip. On May 17, Wellfleet officers went to Berry’s property, where they found a boat — but not Ziemba’s. Berry “adamantly denied any knowledge of ever having Ziemba’s boat on his property,” LaPense wrote. He did tell Officer Edward Garneau that he operates a sander for the DPW, and “is familiar” with boats in the sandpit.
Four months passed. The skiff’s trail got colder. Then, on Sept. 9, the Truro police called with some news: they’d found a Carolina skiff, previously reported stolen, parked in a lot on Horseleech Road. Ziemba’s brother David had positively identified the boat.
The Horseleech Road property belonged to Mira Rabin, the police found. And Rabin’s son, Raphael, 22, of Chatham, had been living with Berry in May 2019, during the skiff’s stint in his yard. LaPense contacted Raphael Rabin, who immediately agreed to make a recorded statement.
He’d moved to Wellfleet in September or October 2018, he said, and moved in with Berry. “Sometime in October,” he’d stumbled across the sandpit. Its locked gate — accessible only by a town employee with keys — was coincidentally open.
Rabin was in the market for a skiff, so when he noticed one in the sandpit, he considered it abandoned (he took a trailer, too, which must have also been abandoned, he thought). He was, he told LaPense, “just learning to fiberglass,” and felt he could restore the vessel.
He brought Ziemba’s skiff to Berry’s residence, where it stayed until a few days before the Wellfleet police visited. Rabin told LaPense that both he and Berry were on the property the day of the investigation. Berry had lied to Officer Garneau about the skiff’s location, Rabin allowed. And once Ziemba and others started sniffing out the skiff, the two had moved the boat to Rabin’s property “to make more space in the yard.”
Rabin and Berry initially made trips to Orleans District Court as co-defendants. But Rabin’s cooperation with the police got the charges against him dismissed upon the Commonwealth’s request. He paid $500 in restitution.
