The moral of this story is this: Do NOT mess with the Coast Guard. More specifically, do NOT transmit a false mayday call on channel 16.
Here’s what we know so far: On the urging of the Coast Guard, a criminal complaint in U.S. District Court in Portland, Maine, charges Nathan Libby, 31, a dock worker in South Thomaston, with placing a false mayday call on Channel 16 that sparked a five-hour search involving a Coast Guard boat, a Maine Marine Patrol boat, and a Coast Guard helicopter.
“Calls like this hoax unnecessarily put our rescue crews at risk, drain resources, and may limit our ability to respond to actual emergencies,” said Capt. Brian LeFebvre, commander of Coast Guard Sector Northern New England. “We will use all available resources to identify and hold responsible the individual responsible.”
The back story, contained in an affidavit filed by Coast Guard Investigative Service Special Agent Mark Root, as reported by the Portland Press Herald: Just after 6:30 a.m. on Dec. 3, the Coast Guard heard a mayday call on VHF channel 16. A man’s voice said, “Mayday, mayday, mayday. We lost our rudder and we’re taking on water fast.”
The man said there were three people on his boat and they were in Spruce Head Harbor. At that point, the Coast Guard deployed its boat and helicopter.
Meanwhile, Nicholas Stillwell, a Maine Marine Patrol officer, went to Spruce Head Island in South Thomaston and got a private boat to search the harbor. He didn’t find anything.
Back at the dock, Stillwell played a recording of the distress call to a worker there, who said it sounded like Libby, who was working at the Spruce Head Fisherman’s Co-Op there. Stillwell talked with Libby, and recorded his voice.
The Coast Guard then sent the tapes of the distress call and Stillwell’s recording of Libby’s voice to the Language Technologies Institute of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Researchers said the voices matched. In addition, a surveillance video showed Libby at the co-op at the time of the call, and information from a local radio tower showed the call came from the direction of the co-op.
If he’s convicted, Libby faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Read more:
https://www.sunjournal.com/2021/01/29/rockland-man-charged-with-making-false-marine-distress-call/
https://coastguardnews.com/maine-man-charged-with-false-distress-call-to-coast-guard/2021/01/30/
