A Roseville man is being held in lieu of $10 million bail after authorities said he kidnapped his 3-year-old daughter on Christmas Eve, took her on an illicit sailing excursion along the California coastline and ran the boat aground on a Monterey area beach.
Adom Fetter, 35, apparently set sail from Alameda on Monday on a 30-foot boat with his daughter, bound for Santa Cruz, said Loren Rex, public safety superintendent for the Monterey District of the California State Parks.
Fetter overshot Santa Cruz, and when he saw Monterey, attempted to turn around. Instead, the boat wound up washed ashore at Marina State Beach, Rex said.
Choppy waters and foul conditions likely contributed to the sailing error.
"It wasn't exactly your prime conditions for sailing," Rex said.
State parks officials responded to the report of a beached boat around 11 a.m. Monday, expecting a rescue effort to ensue – which is not that uncommon, Rex said.
But what happened next certainly wasn't the norm.
Fetter and the girl were safe and off the boat, neither with any injuries. When asked who he was, Fetter allegedly gave authorities a false name, hampering efforts to identify him, Rex said.
"By the time we got his real name, Nevada County was getting their information out on the child abduction," he said.
Fetter was arrested on suspicion of child abduction and violating a restraining order. Both counts stem from arrest warrants issued out of Nevada County.
He also is facing a misdemeanor count of giving a false name to authorities. Fetter is being held in Monterey County jail.
Nevada County Sheriff's Capt. Ron Smith said the girl's grandmother reported the child abduction Christmas Eve, and authorities issued a "be-on-the-lookout" alert to law enforcement.
Further details about the child abduction and restraining order warrants couldn't be discussed, Smith said.
The girl was taken into custody by Child Protective Services and was expected to be returned to her family.
The Nevada and Monterey County district attorneys are both reviewing the case. It hasn't yet been determined where Fetter will be prosecuted.
Smith would not comment on Fetter's specific criminal history. Public records show that Fetter has been prosecuted several times in Contra Costa County.
Salvage crews are still trying to clean up the wreckage from the boat, which, according to Rex, is in "a thousand pieces."
"They're still looking for the mast," Rex said.
The cost of the cleanup efforts will fall to the boat's legal owner, Rex said. Although Fetter and the boat's legal owner know one another, the owner may not have willingly let Fetter borrow the boat.
Call The Bee's Niesha Lofing, (916) 321-1270. Bee reseacher Pete Basofin contributed to this report.
