04-13-2010, 06:39 AM
Louis Cooper • March 30, 2010
A savvy Santa Rosa County deputy used a virtual
globe to track down the owner of an illegally
dumped boat.
Deputy Gregory Barnes logged onto Google Earth to
help him figure out who owned a 1-ton boat
dumped in an undeveloped Pace subdivision off
Keyser Lane.
The digital detective work worked, according to the
Sheriff's Office.
Dwight Everett Foster, 57, of the 5000 block of Poi
Terrace in Pace was arrested Saturday on a felony
charge of littering more than 500 pounds of waste.
He was released from jail on his own recognizance.
Marc Ward, a spokesman for the Santa Rosa County
Sheriff's Office, said Barnes discovered the
abandoned 18-foot 1986 Four Winns 190 Horizon
on Feb. 23. The vehicle identification number and
registration had been removed, so the deputy took
his investigation online.
"He used Google Earth to look around the
surrounding area," Ward said. "He was looking for
anyone who had that boat at the time the satellite
image was taken."
Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographic
information program. It maps the Earth by the
superimposition of images obtained from satellite
imagery, aerial photography and GIS 3D globe.
Barnes was on medical leave Monday and could not
be reached.
Three days after Barnes contacted Foster, Foster's
son removed the abandoned boat and took it to the
Santa Rosa County Landfill in Milton. It cost $18 to
dispose of the vessel, according to the sheriff's
report.
Foster, meanwhile, faces a maximum penalty of five
years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
A call to Foster's home on Monday was not returned.
A savvy Santa Rosa County deputy used a virtual
globe to track down the owner of an illegally
dumped boat.
Deputy Gregory Barnes logged onto Google Earth to
help him figure out who owned a 1-ton boat
dumped in an undeveloped Pace subdivision off
Keyser Lane.
The digital detective work worked, according to the
Sheriff's Office.
Dwight Everett Foster, 57, of the 5000 block of Poi
Terrace in Pace was arrested Saturday on a felony
charge of littering more than 500 pounds of waste.
He was released from jail on his own recognizance.
Marc Ward, a spokesman for the Santa Rosa County
Sheriff's Office, said Barnes discovered the
abandoned 18-foot 1986 Four Winns 190 Horizon
on Feb. 23. The vehicle identification number and
registration had been removed, so the deputy took
his investigation online.
"He used Google Earth to look around the
surrounding area," Ward said. "He was looking for
anyone who had that boat at the time the satellite
image was taken."
Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographic
information program. It maps the Earth by the
superimposition of images obtained from satellite
imagery, aerial photography and GIS 3D globe.
Barnes was on medical leave Monday and could not
be reached.
Three days after Barnes contacted Foster, Foster's
son removed the abandoned boat and took it to the
Santa Rosa County Landfill in Milton. It cost $18 to
dispose of the vessel, according to the sheriff's
report.
Foster, meanwhile, faces a maximum penalty of five
years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
A call to Foster's home on Monday was not returned.