SAUSALITO — Elaine Forbes was arrested on the morning of July 18 after police received a call for a noise disturbance at the Sausalito Yacht Harbor. The Marin County District Attorney's Office filed four misdemeanor charges against the Sausalito city manager: one count of prowling, two counts of disorderly conduct for lodging without consent, and one count of petty theft.

Investigators alleged that Forbes broke into at least two yachts at the harbor, including a 66-foot, three-story vessel named the Lisa Marie. Captain Bill Aubrey discovered Forbes aboard the Lisa Marie and contacted authorities.

Aubrey said she had the horn going, the windshield wipers going, the spotlight going. The incident occurred shortly after 6:50 a.m. when Marin County sheriff’s deputies responded to the noise complaint and found Forbes inside the yacht manipulating the vessel’s controls.

Andy Cunningham is the owner of a second yacht that Forbes allegedly entered during the incident. Cunningham reported that empty bottles of wine were consumed on his vessel and that a jar of maraschino cherries had been dumped into a shoebox.

Cunningham also stated that clothing had been removed from storage and tried on inside the yacht. Forbes was booked into the Marin County Jail following her arrest, and her bail was set at $50,000 by the Marin County Superior Court.

According to jail records maintained by the Marin County Sheriff’s Office, Forbes remained in custody as of July 21. When deputies approached her on the morning of July 18, Forbes told them she was having a bad morning and insisted they get off what she claimed was her boat.

The arrest came just days after the Sausalito City Council placed Forbes on administrative leave during a closed-session meeting on Thursday, July 16. A missing-person report for Forbes had been filed the previous day, Friday, July 17.

Forbes was appointed as Sausalito city manager on July 1, beginning a tenure with an annual salary of $275,000. Her appointment followed a nine-year tenure as the executive director of the Port of San Francisco, from which she resigned in September 2025.

Sam Singer, a spokesperson for Forbes, stated that she is experiencing a mental health crisis. Singer addressed the public response to the incident and the charges filed against the administrator.

Singer said that as the facts become clearer and Elaine obtains legal and healthcare counsel in the coming hours and days, they hope people will respond with compassion, patience and respect for her and her family during an extraordinarily difficult time.

Brandon Phipps is currently serving as the acting city manager of Sausalito while Forbes remains on leave. Forbes was living on a houseboat near the marina where the arrest took place.

Public records indicate that Forbes and Angela Cavillo separated in September 2022. The charges of prowling, disorderly conduct, and petty theft stem from the allegations that Forbes entered the vessels without consent and caused disorder at the harbor.