California city manager arrested over alleged yacht burglary weeks after taking office

Less than three weeks after taking charge as Sausalito’s city manager, Elaine Forbes was arrested on suspicion of felony burglary after authorities allegedly found her aboard a yacht that did not belong to her.Forbes, 53, was taken into custody on Saturday morning after the Marin County Sheriff’s Office responded to a reported burglary at around 6.50am, according to the Marin Independent Journal.Lt. Domenick Yazzolino told the publication that officers found Forbes on the vessel, where she reportedly insisted it was her boat and told deputies she was having a “bad morning”. Investigators later determined the yacht belonged to someone else.She was booked into Marin County Jail and remained in custody on Sunday evening with bail set at $50,000, jail records reviewed by the Daily Mail show.The arrest comes just weeks after Forbes officially began leading the Northern California city on July 1, following her appointment in May. She earns an annual salary of $275,000.City officials confirmed on Sunday that Forbes had already been placed on administrative leave during a closed session of the city council on Thursday, days before her arrest. Authorities have not disclosed why the leave was imposed.The city announced that Brandon Phipps has been appointed acting city manager while the council considers its next steps.Before joining Sausalito, Forbes served for nine years as executive director of the Port of San Francisco, where she managed a workforce of about 270 employees. When she accepted the Sausalito role, she said she felt “prepared and deeply called to serve”, describing the appointment as both a natural progression in her career and “a homecoming”.