KEY LARGO, Florida (4 Apr 2001) -- Guy A. Lewis, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Rear Admiral Thad Allen, Commander of the Seventh Coast Guard District, announced that Ricardo Investments pled guilty and was sentenced today by United States District Court Judge James Lawrence King for grossly negligent operation of the dive boat Aqua Nut Divers II that endangered human life. Aqua Nut Divers, (aka Kelly's On the Bay), is located in Key Largo where they operate two 42 ft Newton day charter dive boats to off-shore reefs. On February 22, 2000, Michael and Linda Evans, two experienced divers from California, booked a dive trip with Aqua Nut Divers to Elbow Reef, located five miles off-shore. After surfacing from the first dive, they discovered that Aqua Nut Divers II had abandoned them in the open ocean and moved on to a second dive site. They managed to swim to the Elbow Reef Light where they sustained minor injuries climbing up a steel tower. Over 26 hours after climbing the light tower, a passing pleasure boat noticed them and they were finally rescued by an officer of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. Meanwhile, the captain and crew of Aqua Nut Divers II completed the second dive and returned to Kelly's On the Bay in Key Largo without noticing that two of their customers were missing. Aqua Nuts | | Kelly's on the Bay - Aqua Nuts dive boat Even after finding the divers' dive bags on the boat and discovering that two sets of dive shop rental gear, including tanks, were missing, Aqua Nut Divers and Kelly's On the Bay made no effort to determine if the divers were missing and did not alert authorities nor return to the dive site. Aqua Nut Divers (aka Kelly's On the Bay) is owned by defendant Ricardo Investments. Ricardo Investments was sentenced to probation for two years and fined one thousand dollars. Captain James Evans, the master of the Aqua Nuts Divers II, agreed to a one-year suspension of his Coast Guard license, with two years probation for negligence. As part of a plea agreement, Ricardo Investments, using recognized industry experts, must establish and maintain an effective dive safety program, subject to Coast Guard approval. Aqua Nut Divers and Kelly's On the Bay must also perform community service by organizing and sponsoring a comprehensive seminar on safe diving operations, in coordination with the Florida Keys Association of Dive Operators. The safe diving program must be held in the Keys before June, 2001, and will be open to local dive shops and interested persons. Finally, Aqua Nut Divers will be supervised for two years by the Coast Guard. According to Aqua Nut Divers/Kelly's On the Bay, the dive facility is a PADI Gold Palm 5-Star resort dive center and has been rated by Rodales Scuba Diving Magazine as the world's best resort diving staff. The company is also alleged to be involved in Rodales "Ads for Waivers" scam that aims to harvest email addresses from diver liability releases. © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK |
