A Maine man is charged with making a false misery name to the Coast Guard on Dec. 3, 10 days after 4 fishermen, together with Michael Porper of Gloucester, have been misplaced at sea when the fishing vessel Emmy Rose sank off Cape Cod.
Nathan Libby of Rockland, Maine is charged with making the mayday name to the Coast Guard round 6:30 a.m. on Dec. 3 through VHF-FM radio channel 16.
The caller over a number of minutes described a 42-foot fishing vessel and its three-man crew, saying the boat was taking over water off Spruceheads, Maine, the rudder was damaged and the dewatering pumps couldn’t sustain with flooding.
Primarily based on the decision, the Coast Guard started a search that spanned greater than 5 hours, which included the usage of a Coast Guard rescue crews from Rockland, Maine, a Maine Marine Patrol vessel, and a helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod.
“Right now’s hoax is especially offensive given the lack of 4 fishermen aboard the Emmy Rose simply final week,” stated Capt. Brian LeFebvre, commanding officer of Coast Guard Sector Northern New England, on Dec. 3 after the Coast Guard suspended the search.
The Coast Guard referred to as off the seek for the boys of the Portland, Maine-based Emmy Rose on Nov. 24 after masking 2,066 sq. miles of sea over greater than 38 hours. Station Gloucester’s patrol boat Key Largo and its crew participated within the seek for the crew. Solely a life raft and particles from the boat, which sank early Nov. 23 off Provincetown en path to Fisherman’s Wharf Gloucester to land a forty five,000- to 50,000-pound catch, was discovered.
A legal criticism was filed on Jan. 27 within the U.S. District Court docket in Portland, Maine, in opposition to Libby. Willfully speaking a false misery message to the Coast Guard is a felony offense beneath federal regulation, and Libby faces as much as 5 years in jail and a $250,000 positive if convicted of the crime.
“Our Coast Guard rescue crews thrive on taking dangers for the sake of serving to others in bother on the water,” stated LeFebvre in a ready assertion Friday. “Calls like this hoax name unnecessarily put our rescue crews in danger, drain assets, and should restrict our capability to reply to precise emergencies”
The investigation was carried out by Coast Guard Investigative Service, the Division of Justice, Maine Marine Patrol, and Rockland, Maine, Police Division.
