In a dramatic rescue off the coast of Monterey, FBI agents boarded a stolen yacht at about 8 p.m. Friday night, recovered two missing children and arrested their father, a Coast Guard spokesman said.
Law enforcement officials had been stealthily tracking the 41-foot yacht for hours by air and sea, always remaining out of view of the fugitive and his children, said Thomas McKenzie of the Coast Guard.
"The children are fine, but are being checked out by emergency medical technicians as a precaution," McKenzie said. The children were reunited with their mother at the Monterey Coast Guard station.
"I'm so, so relieved," said the children's grandmother, Jean Hipon, who lives with her husband, the children and their mother, Jennifer Hipon, 37, in South San Francisco.
Jean Hipon said she hasn't been able to sleep or eat since the havoc began Tuesday afternoon when Christopher Maffei, 43, showed up at his former girlfriend's home on James Court in South San Francisco and allegedly ran off with his daughter, Brooklynn Maffei, 3, and son, Devin Maffei, 2.
Maffei left in a rented white Ford Fusion. At about 8:30 that evening, he drove to Ballena Isle Marina in Alameda, where authorities said he stole the Unleashed, a sailboat worth about $250,000.
At 4 a.m. Friday, a fisherman spotted the yacht about 50 miles off the coast of Pillar Point in Half Moon Bay. He had recognized the boat from a description he had heard on his marine-band radio, said South San Francisco police Sgt. Bruce McPhillips.
"He approached the vessel and made contact with the subject, who was on the vessel," McPhillips said. "He had a short conversation, and then he left the vessel and contacted the Coast Guard."
By late afternoon, the children's mother said authorities told her the boat appeared heading back to shore. Word of the missing boat had been posted on sailboat Internet sites, said Don Durant, owner of Club Nautique, the sailing school and sales center where the stolen boat was docked.
Durant, who has been getting regular updates on the investigation, said he was told Maffei asked the fisherman he encountered Friday if he could buy fuel from him. The fisherman refused.
The Unleashed's 50-gallon tank would have been close to empty by the time it got that far south, Durant said, adding that if the yacht runs out of gas it still can be sailed at about 5 knots.
Meanwhile, a Coast Guard C-130 Hercules airplane was dispatched to watch the boat overhead from a high altitude, and police and a Coast Guard cutter followed with radar, remaining just over the horizon and out of sight.
"We didn't want to spook him," McKenzie said, explaining why authorities did not want Maffei to know he was being followed.
It's not that they thought he would harm his children, McKenzie said. "We didn't want him to sail further away."
Waiting for updates at her South San Francisco home Friday, Jennifer Hipon described Maffei as her former boyfriend and partner. There was no legal custody agreement for the children, but the couple had informally agreed to share custody, she said.
He "didn't have his life together," she said.
After that discussion, "he kept calling and calling, but I didn't pick up," Hipon said. She said he told her at the time that he "considered it kidnapping" for her to stop him from seeing the children. The couple never married, she said, and Maffei had been living in Thailand from 2010 until May. He grew up in Belmont, and the two met at College of San Mateo.
Law enforcement officials had been stealthily tracking the 41-foot yacht for hours by air and sea, always remaining out of view of the fugitive and his children, said Thomas McKenzie of the Coast Guard.
"The children are fine, but are being checked out by emergency medical technicians as a precaution," McKenzie said. The children were reunited with their mother at the Monterey Coast Guard station.
"I'm so, so relieved," said the children's grandmother, Jean Hipon, who lives with her husband, the children and their mother, Jennifer Hipon, 37, in South San Francisco.
Jean Hipon said she hasn't been able to sleep or eat since the havoc began Tuesday afternoon when Christopher Maffei, 43, showed up at his former girlfriend's home on James Court in South San Francisco and allegedly ran off with his daughter, Brooklynn Maffei, 3, and son, Devin Maffei, 2.
Maffei left in a rented white Ford Fusion. At about 8:30 that evening, he drove to Ballena Isle Marina in Alameda, where authorities said he stole the Unleashed, a sailboat worth about $250,000.
Contacting Coast Guard
From there, with his children, he apparently sailed to Vallejo, where he was seen Wednesday, before heading out the Golden Gate and turning south.At 4 a.m. Friday, a fisherman spotted the yacht about 50 miles off the coast of Pillar Point in Half Moon Bay. He had recognized the boat from a description he had heard on his marine-band radio, said South San Francisco police Sgt. Bruce McPhillips.
"He approached the vessel and made contact with the subject, who was on the vessel," McPhillips said. "He had a short conversation, and then he left the vessel and contacted the Coast Guard."
By late afternoon, the children's mother said authorities told her the boat appeared heading back to shore. Word of the missing boat had been posted on sailboat Internet sites, said Don Durant, owner of Club Nautique, the sailing school and sales center where the stolen boat was docked.
Durant, who has been getting regular updates on the investigation, said he was told Maffei asked the fisherman he encountered Friday if he could buy fuel from him. The fisherman refused.
The Unleashed's 50-gallon tank would have been close to empty by the time it got that far south, Durant said, adding that if the yacht runs out of gas it still can be sailed at about 5 knots.
Meanwhile, a Coast Guard C-130 Hercules airplane was dispatched to watch the boat overhead from a high altitude, and police and a Coast Guard cutter followed with radar, remaining just over the horizon and out of sight.
"We didn't want to spook him," McKenzie said, explaining why authorities did not want Maffei to know he was being followed.
It's not that they thought he would harm his children, McKenzie said. "We didn't want him to sail further away."
Waiting for updates at her South San Francisco home Friday, Jennifer Hipon described Maffei as her former boyfriend and partner. There was no legal custody agreement for the children, but the couple had informally agreed to share custody, she said.
Blocked his visits
That arrangement began to unravel Monday, she said, when they argued over her decision to block his visits until he got a job and his own place to live.He "didn't have his life together," she said.
After that discussion, "he kept calling and calling, but I didn't pick up," Hipon said. She said he told her at the time that he "considered it kidnapping" for her to stop him from seeing the children. The couple never married, she said, and Maffei had been living in Thailand from 2010 until May. He grew up in Belmont, and the two met at College of San Mateo.
