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Coast Guard seeks assistance in identifying hoax caller in North Carolina

Discussion in 'Amateur Radio News' started by KC7RUN, Oct 30, 2014.

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  1. KC7RUN

    KC7RUN Ham Member QRZ Page

    WILMINGTON, N.C. Oct 28, 2014
    Coast Guard Sector North Carolina personnel are requesting assistance from the public in identifying a suspected hoax caller who is suspected to have made seven false distress calls during the past two years in the vicinity of New Bern.


    During the months of September through December of 2012-2013 and September through October of 2014, a similar male voice broadcast similar distress calls to Sector North Carolina personnel from the area surrounding the junction of the Neuse and Trent Rivers near New Bern on seven different occasions, with the most recent call on Oct. 16.
    The Coast Guard issued urgent marine information broadcasts and launched response boat crews, helicopter crews or both in each instance. The combined response efforts to the calls is estimated to have cost the Coast Guard more than $150,000. That cost does not include the expense of local fire department crews or Marine Corps rescue helicopter crews who also responded as a result of the calls.


    Making a false distress call to the Coast Guard is a federal felony offense with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, an $8,000 civil penalty and mandatory reimbursement to the Coast Guard for the cost of performing the search.


    “When the Coast Guard dispatches vessels and aircraft for false distress broadcasts, it obligates limited resources to unnecessary searches and puts additional costs on the Coast Guard and the taxpayer,” said Lt. Lane Munroe, command center chief and public affairs officer at Sector North Carolina. “Above all else, it puts the lives of our personnel at risk. We are asking anyone with information about this caller to please come forward.”


    The Coast Guard is offering a $2,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and prosecution of the individual responsible for making a false distress call to the U.S. Coast Guard.
    One North Carolina resident was recently sentenced and two others were indicted on making false distress calls.


    Brandon Garner and Charles Dowd Jr., both of Beaufort, were indicted on Oct. 14, by a federal grand jury for the Eastern District of North Carolina in Greenville for hoax distress calls they allegedly made to the Coast Guard in 2013. Both men are facing five years in federal prison and $18,000 in restitution.


    Homer Blackburn of Atlantic Beach was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison and required to pay more than $288,000 in restitution after making a hoax distress call in October 2013.
    Anyone with information that can identify the hoax caller is requested to call 910-343-3880.


    LISTEN HERE : STATION ONE | STATION TWO


     
  2. W5LMM

    W5LMM Platinum Subscriber Platinum Subscriber QRZ Page

    What in the hell is wrong with people?
     
  3. N4EGA

    N4EGA Ham Member QRZ Page

    I don't normally get all spun up when it comes to pirate transmissions be it CB or Ham radio, But.... Doing crap like this? Find this dude, give him a fair and speedy trial, and if found guilty, ruin his life. Don't send him to jail as that is a bigger issue in the US right now, but make this guy pay financially until he wishes he was in prison. Crap like this is what causes other people to get killed or hurt.
     
  4. WB6FQZ

    WB6FQZ Ham Member QRZ Page

    I'm assuming this guy made the calls on marine ch 16 (156.800). Hams in the area should keep an ear on the freq. and if he does it again then DF him down.
    WB6FQZ
     
  5. KC1AIH

    KC1AIH Ham Member QRZ Page

    Ah yes. The boy who called wolf. Well Karma does have a way of coming round and biting in the bum. When they do get him, and they will, as he is a creature of habit, a good time in jail and monetary restitution plus fine seems appropriate. Or, as might have happened back in the day, send the Marines around to chat him after dark.

    A retired Vet who had done search and rescue.
     
  6. WW5RM

    WW5RM Guest

    Ive always heard it takes all kinds to make the world go around...... well I say let it come to a screeching halt if this type is part of it! Some things aren't worth it!
     
  7. W0PV

    W0PV Ham Member QRZ Page

    Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens all the time. Living in the Tampa Bay area, I often have my 2m FM base and mobile rigs scanning not only the hams but also Marine band channels and often hear the action.

    Its not just false radio calls either. Recently there has been a spat of inappropriate use of flares, which can also triggers a costly emergency response.

    http://www.uscgnews.com/go/doc/4007/1872258/Coast-Guard-Flares-are-for-emergencies-only

    Its amazing sometimes just how active, and effective, the USCG is,

    http://coastguardnews.com/?s=mayday
     
  8. N4AVN

    N4AVN Ham Member QRZ Page

    50 Feet of good hemp rope and an oak tree would completely solve this problem.

    N4AVN
     
  9. K5GHS

    K5GHS Ham Member QRZ Page

    This exactly. I live in Central CA but have those frequencies stored in my scanner as well. Probably hear a few a week where someone shouts mayday or help, and they are asking for anyone who heard it to report to them, and then a few hours later they suspend the alert because they haven't heard anything else.

    There are times especially in the summer months where I hear them have to explain to people that Channel 16 is a distress frequency only. People come on there calling the CG for radio checks because they just put a new radio in their boat, usually.

    They are a pretty good source of weather data too, they have a broadcast every few hours, usually when they say its going to rain on the coast, you add 2 hours and its here.
     
  10. K1LLR

    K1LLR Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

    shorten the rope please:mad:
     
  11. KC4VYY

    KC4VYY Ham Member QRZ Page

    This is idiotic for people doing this. These frequencies 156.800Mhz and 2182Khz are set aside for emergency communications, its no different than picking up the telephone and calling 911. I listened to both audio messages, and its too bad they did not transmit long enough to get a correct triangulation. I hope when they do get caught they get the Hook Line and Sinker. My thoughts and prayers go out to the men and women of the Coast Guard and the Marine Corp for risking there life for rescue missions.
     
  12. SA1CKE

    SA1CKE Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

    A one way transport to a location a long way from traveled roads in Alaska or other sparsely populated area would do just fine...
     
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