Posts Tagged ‘hoax’
Oyster Bay Mayday Might Have Been A Hoax
NEW YORK-A mayday call prompting a multi-agency rescue response by sea and air is now believed to be a hoax.
The Coast Guard, Suffolk County Police Department and Nassau County Police Department saturated the area near Centre Island, N.Y., after receiving a mayday from a man who said his vessel was taking on water and was sinking around 5 p.m., yesterday.
Hoax call costs Newport, N.C., man more than $45,000
PORTSMOUTH, Va. - A U.S. district judge sentenced a Newport, N.C., man 60 months probation Tuesday and the court imposed restitution in the amount of $45,292.78 for a false distress call that resulted in search and rescue efforts from multiple agencies.
On Sept. 20, 2007, Joe D. Mills, Jr., used a handheld VHF radio from his front yard to fraudulently report a vessel taking on water to Coast Guard Sector North Carolina. The distress call was recorded and specifically referenced the Coast Guard. Coast Guard watchstanders could not reach Mills after he made the call and $45,000 worth of Coast Guard resources were used searching for him. Local fire and rescue also spent significant resources.
An investigation was launched after the vessel was not found and Coast Guard Investigative Services personnel determined the distress call was a hoax.
Maritime, hoax distress calls place unnecessary risk on the rescuers responding to the calls and interfere with legitimate search and rescue cases, which cost the American taxpayer hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
According to Section 303 of the U.S. Communications Act passed in 1934, any radio operator, whether at home, on a boat or in a business, is required to allow an FCC agent to inspect his radio equipment at any time. To deny this could result in a maximum fine of $7,000. The Studds Act was also passed in November 1990. This act states that a false distress call is a class D Felony, and a convicted hoax caller is subject to a fine of up to $250,000 and up to six years in prison. The caller might also have to reimburse the Coast Guard for the cost of the search. The caller is also subject to an FCC civil fine of up to $8,000.
If a hoax caller is not caught the taxpayers pay the cost of the search. Coast Guard C-130 aircraft cost about $4,244 an hour to operate, Coast Guard helicopters cost about $4,400 an hour, Coast Guard cutters cost about $1,550 an hour to operate and Coast Guard small boats also cost between $300 to $400 an hour to run.
The Coast Guard needs the assistance of the public to reduce hoax calls. This can be done by:
* Removing radios or locking them up when not in use
* Teach children that unauthorized use puts people in danger
* Report suspect hoaxers; U.S. Coast Guard Tip line 1-800-264-5980
All calls are confidential. Tipsters can remain anonymous if they choose.
Coast Guard Response to False Distress Call Cost Everyone
MILWAUKEE - During the month of June, Coast Guard Sector Lake Michigan units have responded to several calls that were heard on VHF channel 16 by people claiming to be in distress on the water.
On June 1, the Coast Guard responded to a radio call made by a child. The subsequent hour and a half search by a 25-foot small boat from Coast Guard Station Milwaukee and a HH-65 helicopter from Coast Guard Air Facility Waukegan for a supposed mariner in distress cost taxpayers an estimated $14,340.
For more than 210 years, the U.S. Coast Guard has responded to distress calls at sea and in local waterways. Usually the callers are truly in distress. But some of those calls are suspected or found to be false distress calls or hoaxes.
This causes concern because hoax calls hurt in the following ways: The Coast Guard by placing our people in danger by operating ships, boats and aircraft, responding to these false distress calls; the taxpayer by wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars annually; and those truly in distress by interfering with legitimate search-and-rescue cases.
It is a federal felony for anyone to knowingly and willfully communicates a false distress message to the Coast Guard or causes the Coast Guard to attempt to save lives and property when no help is needed. Penalties include up to six years in prison, $250,000 fine, $5,000 civil penalty, and possible reimbursement to the Coast Guard for costs of the search.
The Coast Guard must remain vigilant and take all distress calls seriously. The maritime environment is too dangerous to do otherwise. The perpetrator of a hoax call is fleecing America and the Coast Guard is working with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Department of Justice to prosecute and recover costs for the federal government on behalf of the taxpayer.
If you hear a hoax, or you have information that might lead to the perpetrator of a hoax, call the nearest U.S. Coast Guard unit or contact the FCC.
IT’S NO JOKE
SAN DIEGO (CG Public Affairs) - For more than 200 years the U.S. Coast Guard has responded to distress calls at sea as quickly as possible as if it were an actual call for help. But every once in a while, some of those calls are found to be false alarms, or hoax calls, sent by people who willingly mislead the Coast Guard and other search and rescue assets for various reasons. What they don’t realize though is that a hoax call could potentially divert valuable search assets from an actual distress case, and put rescuers unnecessarily in harms way while responding to the false call.
The federal law concerning false distress calls:
14 U.S.C. 88(c) makes it a federal felony for anyone to knowingly and willfully communicate a false distress message to the Coast Guard or cause the Coast Guard to attempt to save lives and property when no help is needed. Penalties include up to 6 years in prison, $250,000 fine, $5,000 civil penalty, and the possible reimbursement to the Coast Guard for the cost of performing the search.
Hoax calls affect everyone, including people who are not boat owners or part of the maritime community. Hoax calls affect:
- The U.S. Coast Guard by placing our men and women in danger by operating ships, boats and aircraft, responding to these false distress calls;
- The American taxpayers by wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. This is money that can be alloted homeland security and/or additional training;
- Those really in distress at sea by interfering with legitimate search-and-rescue cases.
Anyone who knowingly and willfully commits a hoax or false distress call is fleecing America. The Coast Guard is working with the Federal Communications Commission, Department of Justice and other federal, state and local agencies to aggressively prosecute hoax callers and recover costs for the federal government on behalf of all taxpayers.
Coast Guard Assets and Average Hourly Costs
The U.S. Coast Guard, as a matter of both law and policy, does not seek to recover the costs associated with search-and-rescue from the recipients of those services. While we must be mindful to employ a cost-effective response to an incident, response or distress itself must not be delayed or limited by the misplaced concern of “who is to pay the bill.”
One of the exceptions to this rule is the perpetrators of false distress calls. One penalty levied on hoax callers is reimbursement to the Coast Guard for the costs of performing the search. This is determined by hourly standard rates for cutters, boats, aircraft and crew. The follow is the hourly rates for San Diego-based Coast Guard assets (amounts do not include personnel and crew cost and are based on 2005 statistics, they do not reflect current fuel costs):
- More than $480 for a 110-foot patrol cutter
- More than $280 for an 87-foot patrol cutter
- More than $770 for a 41-foot utility boat
- More than $420 for a Coast Guard 25- or 28-foot response boat
- More than $4,400 for an HH-60J Jayhawk helicopter
HOAX CASES THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES:
JANUARY, 1999: A male voice, claiming to be the operator of a motor yacht alerted the Coast Guard in San Diego that his vessel was sinking southwest of Point Loma, Calif., and there were 11 people, nine of them children, on board. Coast Guard assets searched the area with vessels from the San Diego Harbor Patrol and four good samaritan vessels. While the male continued to report the distress, Coast Guard Station San Diego and San Diego Harbor Patrol boats boarded a vessel at anchorage in San Diego Harbor. The distress transmission abruptly concluded when the units approached the Dessert Diver. It is strongly believed this distress call was a hoax originated from the vessel.
FEBRUARY 2005: Patricia Johnson, 49, of Selmer, Tenn., pleaded guilty October 27, 2004 in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids, Mich., to charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and making a false distress call to the Coast Guard. She was sentenced to two years in a federal prison and was ordered to pay $56,958.30 in restitution to the Coast Guard.
JUNE 2004: U.S. Coast Guard Seaman Apprentice Robert T. Tolson, assigned to the San Diego-based Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton, pled guilty to three charges and specifications related to making a false distress calls at a court-martial proceeding. Tolson was sentenced to receive a reduction in pay grade to E-1, the lowest enlisted paygrade; confinement for five months in the U.S. Naval Brig at Miramar, Calif.; and a bad conduct discharge from the Coast Guard.
MAY 2004: Coast Guard Investigative Services (CGIS) in cooperation with the Federal Communications Commission and the Northern California U.S. Attorney’s office ended a three-year-long hoax-calling spree by Kurtis D. Thorsted of Salinas, Calif. He was sentenced to two years imprisonment and was order to pay $29,000 in restitution to the Coast Guard.
MARCH 2004: Everett A. Sawyer, a Gloucester, Mass. fisherman, pled guilty and was found guilty for violating the New Hampshire criminal law, “False Public Alarm,” for knowingly communicating a false distress message to the Coast Guard. The Portsmouth (N.H.) District Court fined Sawyer $1,700.
MARCH 2004: United States District Judge of Western Washington District of Washington sentenced James Garrett Baldwin, 31, of Aberdeen, Wash., to 12 months and one day imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release for one count of communicating a false distress message to the Coast Guard. Baldwin was also ordered to pay $194.587 in restitution to the Coast Guard.