California man sentenced 30 months in prison for broadcasting false ‘mayday’ distress signals
By APWednesday, June 16, 2010
Calif. man gets 30 months for false ‘mayday’ calls
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California man accused of falsely claiming repeatedly to be stranded at sea has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.
Prosecutors say 53-year-old Kurtis Thorsted broadcast more than four dozen hoax distress signals over six months in 2008, costing the Coast Guard more than $102,000 for attempted searches.
He was sentenced to two years in prison for the same crime in 2004.
Thorsted pleaded guilty to broadcasting the latest “mayday” calls from his Salinas home and telling would-be rescuers he was stranded in an offshore kayak.
A public defender said in a sentencing memo that Thorsted is disabled from a traumatic brain injury and has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
He was sentenced Monday at federal court in San Jose.
