Four stranded boaters were rescued from the Mississippi River — then arrested. The four were traveling downriver from Clinton yesterday in a flat-bottom boat when they ran into a big problem, Lock and Dam 14 near LeClaire.
The boaters hit it, called for help on a cell phone and had to be rescued. But now they’re big trouble. Cops say the motorless, 18-foot boat the four were piloting had been stolen in Clinton.
Charged with third-degree theft and one count of harassment of a public official are 25-year-old Christopher Allen Rannow of Clinton, 32-year-old Anna T. Nelson of Clinton, and 52-year-old Sherrie Lynn Holloway of Hanover, Illinois.
Twenty-year-old Jay Michael Parsi of Hanover, Illinois, is charged with one count of third-degree theft. Scott County Sheriff Dennis Conard says the four, who did not have life jackets, were trying to drift to the mouth of the river.
By Phil Roberts, Davenport