Salinas man gets 30 months for fake maydays

[alp227]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

(06-15) 20:09 PDT SALINAS -- A judge this week sentenced 53-year-old Kurtis Thorsted of Salinas to 30 months in federal prison for making a series of hoax distress signals. He was convicted of doing the same thing in 2004.

Thorsted pleaded guilty in July in U.S. District Court in San Jose to broadcasting a fake "mayday mayday" distress signal, when he told would-be rescuers in October 2008 that he was in a kayak off the coast of Santa Cruz and having difficulty getting to shore. He was actually at his Salinas home and in no danger, prosecutors and his attorney said. He also pleaded guilty in October to making two other fake "mayday" calls to the Coast Guard, which led to rescue attempts.

The court found that Thorsted broadcast 51 false distress messages over six months, costing the Coast Guard $102,000 in search and related costs, federal prosecutors said.

Assistant Federal Public Defender Cynthia Lie said in a sentencing memo that Thorsted made the calls from his home in Salinas. Lie said Thorsted suffered a traumatic brain injury in 1999 that has left him permanently disabled.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/15/BADT1DVSPG.DTL

[rpannier]

1. Guy is pathetic

We can all be glad no one died as their boat went down because the Coast Guard was chasing his phantom distress calls.

[pundaint]

2. Control is necessary, but I can imagine the brain injury may

have a roll in this.

[petronius]

3. His lawyer's name is Lie? That's surprisingly honest

:)

This is really stupid behavior, but I wonder what role the injury played - I hope they at least confine him to a low-security place where he can get treatment and live out his last bit of time comfortably...