Californian man gets 30-months for hoax mayday calls

A federal judge sentenced Kurtis Thorsted of Salinas, California to 30 months in federal prison. This, after the 53 year old pleaded guilty in July in U.S. District Court in San Jose to broadcasting a fake distress signal in October 2008.

At that time he made the transmissions Thorsted told would-be rescuers in that he was in a kayak off the coast of Santa Cruz and having difficulty getting to shore. However it was found that he was actually at his home in the city of Salinas.

Thorsted also pleaded guilty in October to making two other fake mayday calls to the Coast Guard. In all, the court found that Thorsted has made 51 false distress messages over six months and costing the Coast Guard $102,000 in search and related costs.

This is not the first time that Thorsted has been convicted of transmitting a false distress message. In April 2004 he was sentenced to two years in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $29,000 in restitution to the Coast Guard for a similar series of hoax calls. And in one of the earlier incidents, Thorsted's phony call interrupted a real distress call from a 33-foot boat 4 miles off the coast of Santa Cruz island.

More on this story is on-line at tinyurl.com/2f63oq8

WIA