PORTLAND, Maine (AP) A Maine man has been sentenced to three years of supervised release for making a hoax distress call about a boat taking on water.
A federal judge also sentenced Nathan Libby, 32, of Rockland, to four days of time served and ordered him to pay $17,500 in restitution to the U.S. Coast Guard. Libby communicated a false distress call for a vessel and crew in the vicinity of Spruce Head in December 2020, court documents said.
Libby pleaded guilty in June and was sentenced Wednesday. The U.S. Department of Justice said the Coast Guard searched for more than five hours before an investigation found that the call was a hoax and the search was suspended.
Capt. Brian LeFebvre, sector commander of Coast Guard Sector Northern New England, said such hoax calls “unnecessarily put our rescue crews at risk, waste resources, and may limit our ability to respond to actual emergencies.”
There was no answer to a call to Libby placed by The Associated Press.
