Man accused of yacht theft, kidnapping

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REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Sept. 12 (UPI) -- A man who allegedly kidnapped his two young children, then took them on a cruise aboard a yacht he stole in Alameda, Calif., said they were never in danger.

Speaking in the Maguire Correctional Facility in Redwood City and charged with residential burglary, possession of stolen goods in the form of a 41-foot sailing yacht and two counts each of kidnapping, parental abduction and child endangerment, Christopher Maffei, 43, admitted he had doubts about the trip when the boat passed under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

"I felt I needed to go back. I knew I'd gone crazy by stealing the boat but not about taking my kids," Maffei told the San Francisco Chronicle. "They were safe and they were warm."

The abduction began Sept. 4 when Maffei drove to the South San Francisco home of Jennifer Hipon, the mother of the children, ages 3 and 2. He took them because he felt he was denied access to them, he said, and after stocking up on diapers, water and food, drove to a marina in Alameda, Calif., stole a boat and began a three-day cruise he described as "idyllic."

He was brought ashore in handcuffs Friday on a Coast Guard cutter and was charged Monday in San Mateo County Superior Court, the newspaper.

The children were returned to their mother, who was granted a temporary restraining order against Maffei as well as a court order for full custody of the children and no visitation rights for Maffei, court documents said.