Officials impound 3 boats rented illegally through app in Mission Bay

SAN DIEGO — San Diego police and lifeguards impounded three boats and cited three boat owners during a joint operation Friday in an attempt to crack down on illegal boat rentals in Mission Bay.

Lifeguards said they've seen an increase in people renting boats in Mission Bay through an app, something that is illegal, according to city code.

Vince, one of the boat owners cited during the operation, had his boat impounded Friday. He had rented his boat through the Get My Boat App about 25 times before, and said didn't know this was illegal.

Vince said he typically gets people booking through the Get My Boat app for celebrations and they pay him to drive his boat around Mission Bay.

When he received a booking for Friday, he went to pick up his passengers at a public dock, but it was not who he thought it was going to be.

“As I’m tying up, I look up and there’s just uniformed cops all armed, charging down," Vince said.

Instead of the usual group of people celebrating something booking his boat, it was officials behind the badge, booking through the app and setting up the operation.

“Most of the time, it’s birthday parties, bachelorette parties, and there’s always a reason, which is really funny because when they set me up on this little sting that they did – I called them and said 'Hey what are we celebrating?' and he didn’t have an answer, and that should have been a slight red flag," Vince said.

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