http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2006/06/28/ c1a_HOAX_0628.html
By Stephanie Slater Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Wednesday, June 28, 2006 BOYNTON BEACH - Federal authorities on Tuesday charged a 45-year-old felon with making a hoax call that launched a 23-hour, $350,000 air and sea search for nine people bobbing in the stormy Atlantic. Robert J. Moran was arres Authorities said Moran made the 63-minute fake distress call with a hand-held radio at 10:49 p.m. on June 11, claiming that his 33-foot boat Blue Sheep was taking on water 3 miles north of the Boynton Beach Inlet, and that his wife had fractured her leg and was bleeding profusely. "The whole back of the boat is submerged. My batteries are under. My lights are flickering on the radio. I'm taking on water. What do you want me to do?" the man said in a five-minute portion released to reporters. Moran allegedly told Coast Guard officials that the nine passengers - including four children - had put on their life jackets and were huddled together in the water. The Coast Guard lost communication with him around 11:52 p.m. "Today's indictment is one example of our united efforts to hold a reckless criminal accountable for his actions," said Capt. James O'Connor, chief of the Coast Guard District's Incident Management Branch. "Make no mistake, calling in a false report of distress is a crime and endangers the boating public, commercial mariners and first responders." A false emergency report to the Coast Guard is a federal crime punishable by up to five years in prison, more than $250,000 in fines and the cost of the search. On Tuesday, two boats, including a 20-foot fiberglass outboard, were parked on the side of Moran's house. Maria Rivera, who watched authorities take Moran away, called him a friendly neighbor but said he hadn't worked in two years. Moran's run-ins with the law began in the early 1980s. His criminal record shows violent encounters with the police, as well as a felony conviction in 1986 for aggravated assault with a weapon, a DUI in 2000 and pleading guilty to attacking a person 65 or older in 2004, for which the judge later withheld adjudication, Florida Department of Law Enforcement records show. Moran also was charged with cruelty to an animal in December 2003 and was given six months' probation, court records show. A woman who answered the phone at Moran's home Tuesday night and identified herself as a house-sitter said the family had been instructed by a lawyer not to speak with anyone about the case. Moran was expected to be booked into the Palm Beach County Jail. The Coast Guard-led search covered more than 1,000 square miles between Boynton Beach and Fort Pierce - an area about the size of Lake Okeechobee. Conditions were difficult as Tropical Storm Alberto was passing through the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission helped in the search. Officials also sent out pleas for information. But they never found evidence that anyone was out there, and no one was reported missing. As the hours passed, authorities began to suspect a hoax. The captain claimed that his name was John Tobin and his wife's name was Carol, but sheriff's investigators found only one couple with those names - former residents of Coral Springs who were safe in New Jersey. The search was called off at 9:55 p.m. on June 12. It wasn't long before a tipster who recognized the caller's voice in a TV news account notified officials about Moran. Authorities said they did not know why Moran made the allegedly false distress call, nor could they pinpoint the exact location of it. The unnecessary rescue effort cost $347,014.92, based on the hourly rate of two Coast Guard planes, two jets, two helicopters and two vessels, as well as wildlife commission and sheriff's office boats, said Lt. Cmdr. Chris O'Neil, Coast Guard spokesman. "The important thing to take away from this is that we take distress calls very seriously," O'Neil said. This isn't the first time the Coast Guard has exhausted efforts on a phony report. A serial hoax caller in Jacksonville prompted 10 useless searches from February to April, costing taxpayers about $100,000, officials said. In March, two teenagers in Brookings, Ore., were convicted of making false reports. They were ordered to serve time in juvenile detention and pay $69,000. Gregory S. Williams [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
