The captain of a Florida dive boat has been sentenced to 100 months in prison for the 2020 death of 37-year-old scuba diver Mollie Ghiz-Flynn.
Dustin McCabe, 49, of Ocala, Florida, owner and operator of the dive boat Southern Comfort, was convicted of Seaman’s Manslaughter in March. He was also found guilty of lying to the US Coast Guard and Covid-19 relief fraud.
McCabe had purchased the 48-foot (14.6-metre) yacht in March 2020, and kitted it out as a dive charter boat, despite having registered it with the US Coast Guard as a vessel to be used for personal recreational purposes.
On 28 March, McCabe took paying customers on a dive trip, during which Southern Comfort experienced ‘significant mechanical malfunctions’.
The malfunctions included one propeller unexpectedly engaging and a loss of steering that almost caused the boat to collide with a bridge. At one point during the trip, the vessel ran aground.
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The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida reports that in one of the incidents on 28 March, the port-side propeller activated while the vessel was in neutral during a diver pickup.
The diver was pulled towards the propeller and ‘narrowly escaped injury’ by thrusting her speargun into the spinning blades and pushing herself away.
Despite these faults, and without reporting or repairing the mechanical defects, McCabe took a second group of divers out from Florida’s Riviera Beach the next day.
Mollie Ghiz-Flynn and her husband Sean were being picked up following a dive at Breaker’s Reef, off the coast of Palm Beach, when the port-side propeller once again activated while the boat was supposed to be in neutral.
Ghiz-Flynn was pulled into the prop and her leg severely damaged, but she became entangled in the prop shaft and was held underwater, where she drowned.
A medical examiner would later testify that the ‘deep chop wounds and broken bones’ Ghiz-Flynn suffered may well have been survivable.
McCabe was banned from operating the vessel but would go on to file for Covid-19 business relief, claiming his business was still operational and submitting fraudulent payroll information and tax records as evidence.
It was revealed during the trial, however, that he had used the funds for personal expenses, including a premium membership at a golf club in Palm Beach Gardens.
McCabe was convicted of all charges, but his defence attorney asked for a lenient sentence of four years and three months, based on his lack of prior criminal history.
The prosecution asked for a sentence of six years and six months, however, claiming McCabe showed no remorse for his actions and had lied under oath.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon agreed, and extended the Prosecution’s request to eight years and four months.
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