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Conception dive boat captain sentenced to 4 years in fiery deaths of 34 off Santa Cruz Island – San Gabriel Valley TribuneSkip to content
Conception dive boat captain sentenced to 4 years in fiery deaths of 34 off Santa Cruz Island
Jerry Boylan was found guilty of one count of misconduct or neglect of ship officer last year. The charge is a pre-Civil War statute colloquially known as seaman's manslaughter
FILE – In this photo provided by the Ventura County Fire Department, VCFD firefighters respond to a fire aboard the Conception dive boat fire in the Santa Barbara Channel off the coast of Southern California on Sept. 2, 2019. A scuba dive boat captain is scheduled to be sentenced by a federal judge Thursday, May 2, 2024, on a conviction of criminal negligence after 34 people died in the fire aboard the vessel nearly five years ago. (Ventura County Fire Department via AP, File)
LOS ANGELES — A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
The Sept. 2, 2019, blaze was the deadliest maritime disaster in recent U.S. history, and prompted changes to maritime regulations, congressional reform and several ongoing lawsuits.
Boylan’s appeal is ongoing. He faced up to 10 years behind bars.
FILE – In this photo provided by the Ventura County Fire Department, VCFD firefighters respond to a fire aboard the Conception dive boat fire in the Santa Barbara Channel off the coast of Southern California on Sept. 2, 2019. A scuba dive boat captain is scheduled to be sentenced by a federal judge Thursday, May 2, 2024, on a conviction of criminal negligence after 34 people died in the fire aboard the vessel nearly five years ago. (Ventura County Fire Department via AP, File)
FILE – Barbara Chan, whose brother Raymond “Scott” Chan was among the 34 victims of a fire on the scuba dive boat Conception, holds up a photo of the victims, Oct. 24, 2023, in Los Angeles. The captain of the boat is scheduled to be sentenced by a federal judge Thursday, May 2, 2024, on a conviction of criminal negligence. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun, File)
FILE – A photo collage of the 34 victims of the Sept. 2, 2019 fire aboard the dive boat Conception, at Santa Cruz Island, is held by a family member arriving at federal court in Los Angeles, Oct. 25, 2023. The captain of the boat is scheduled to be sentenced by a federal judge Thursday, May 2, 2024, on a conviction of criminal negligence. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
In this Sept. 2, 2019, file photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, the dive boat Conception is engulfed in flames after a deadly fire broke out aboard the commercial scuba diving vessel off the Southern California Coast. Federal authorities are expected to vote Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2020 on what likely sparked a fire aboard a scuba dive boat last year that killed 34 people off the coast of Southern California. The pre-dawn blaze aboard the Conception is one of California’s deadliest maritime disasters, prompting both criminal and safety investigations into the Sept. 2, 2019 tragedy that claimed the lives of 33 passengers and one crew member on a Labor Day weekend expedition near an island off Santa Barbara. (Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP, File)
This undated photo provided by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) shows the wreckage of the dive boat Conception on a dock in Southern California. Federal investigators say the lack of a required roving night watchman aboard a scuba dive boat delayed the detection of a fire that killed 34 people off the coast of Southern California. Investigators told the National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2020 that because some of the passengers’ bodies were recovered wearing shoes, they believe they were awake and trying to escape before being overcome with smoke. (NTSB via AP)
FILE – This Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019, file photo provided by Santa Barbara County shows divers and support crews from many agencies working the scene of the Conception dive boat fire off Santa Cruz Island, Calif. Federal investigators say all six crew members were asleep when a fire broke out in the scuba diving boat off the coast of California, killing 34 people. (Santa Barbara County via AP, File)
Nearly 1,000 people gather at the Santa Monica Pier for a vigil to remember the dive boat fire victims on Thursday, Sep. 5, 2019. 34 divers died below deck when the dive boat Conception caught fire off the coast of Santa Cruz Island on Monday. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)
Nearly 1,000 people gather at the Santa Monica Pier for a vigil to remember the dive boat fire victims on Thursday, Sep. 5, 2019. 34 divers died below deck when the dive boat Conception caught fire off the coast of Santa Cruz Island on Monday. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)
A U.S. Coast Guard patrol boat comes in from the scene where five people were rescued and four bodies were recovered after a boat erupted in flames off the coast of Ventura County early Monday morning, Sept. 3, 2019, prompting an ongoing search operation for more than two dozen people who remained missing, authorities said.
The 75-foot Conception was anchored about 20 yards off Santa Cruz Island when the scuba diving vessel caught fire about 3:15 a.m., said Mike Eliason, a spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.
(Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
A commercial scuba-dive boat sank amid intense flames early off the coast of Southern California and 34 passengers were unaccounted for, the US Coast Guard said. Five Conception crew members were awake and jumped into the water when flames burst out around 3:15 am. (Courtesy of Ventura County Fire Department)
This July 12, 2020 file photo shows a standing memorial near the Santa Barbara harbor to the people who died aboard the Conception dive boat on Sept. 2, 2019. The crew aboard the scuba dive boat had not been trained on emergency procedures before the deadly fire broke out last year, killing 34 people in one of the state’s deadliest maritime disasters, according to federal documents released Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020. (AP Photo/John Antczak,File)
Conception commercial dive boat victims Kaustbh Nirmal and Dr. Sanjeeri Deopujari of Norwalk, Connecticut. Attorneys held a press conference announcing the filing of a wrongful death and survival action claim on behalf of three passengers and one crew member, including Normal and Deopujari, killed in the Conception commercial dive boat fire off the coast of Santa Barbara, CA Monday, January 13, 2020. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Conception commercial dive boat victim Yulia Krashennaya of Berkeley, CA. Attorneys held a press conference announcing the filing of a wrongful death and survival action claim on behalf of three passengers and one crew member, including Krashennaya, killed in the Conception commercial dive boat fire off the coast of Santa Barbara, CA Monday, January 13, 2020. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
L to R, Attorneys Robert Glassman, Jeffery Goodman and Robert Mongeluzzi at a press conference announcing the filing of a wrongful death and survival action claim on behalf of three passengers and one crew member killed in the Conception commercial dive boat fire off the coast of Santa Barbara, CA Monday, January 13, 2020. Pictured are victims Alexandra Kurtz, a crew member, Yulia Krashennaya, of Berkeley, CA and Kaustbh Nirmal and Dr. Sanjeeri Deopujari of Norwalk, Connecticut. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Conception commercial dive boat victim Alexandra Kurtz. Attorneys held a press conference announcing the filing of a wrongful death and survival action claim on behalf of three passengers and one crew member, including Kurtz, killed in the Conception commercial dive boat fire off the coast of Santa Barbara, CA Monday, January 13, 2020. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Robert Mongeluzzi, Attorney, left, and attorney Jeffery Goodman at a press conference announcing the filing of a wrongful death and survival action claim on behalf of three passengers and one crew member killed in the Conception commercial dive boat fire off the coast of Santa Barbara, CA Monday, January 13, 2020. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Lisa Fiedler of Mill Valley was on the dive boat Conception at the Channel Islands when it caught fire early Monday. (Photo from Facebook)
People mourn two local divers as a large crowed gathers at the Santa Monica Pier for a vigil to remember the dive boat fire victims on Thursday, Sep. 5, 2019. 34 divers died below deck when the dive boat Conception caught fire off the coast of Santa Cruz Island on Monday. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)
A group hugs each other as nearly 1,000 people gather at the Santa Monica Pier for a vigil to remember the dive boat fire victims on Thursday, Sep. 5, 2019. 34 divers died below deck when the dive boat Conception caught fire off the coast of Santa Cruz Island on Monday. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)
California Assembly member Richard Bloom speaks to the large group gathered at the Santa Monica Pier for a vigil to remember the dive boat fire victims on Thursday, Sep. 5, 2019. 34 divers died below deck when the dive boat Conception caught fire off the coast of Santa Cruz Island on Monday. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)
Lisa Fiedler of Mill Valley was on the dive boat Conception at the Channel Islands when it caught fire early Sept. 2, 2019. (Photo provided by Alicia Love)
SANTA BARBARA, CA – Sept. 4: A photo of Allie Kurtz is among the memorial growing, Wednesday morning, Sept. 4, 2019, at the harbor in Santa Barbara, Calif., for the victims of the Conception dive boat fire. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
SANTA BARBARA, CA – Sept. 4: Wellwishers bring flowers to a memorial for the victims of the Conception dive boat fire, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019, at the harbor in Santa Barbara, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
This undated photo provided by the Fremont, Calif., School District shows physics teacher Scott Chan. While authorities have not yet released the names of any victims, a district representative says Chan was one of those aboard the dive boat Conception that burned and sank off Santa Cruz Island Sunday, Sept. 1, 2019. (Fremont School District via AP)
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member Jennifer Homendi, left, with NTSB Investigator-in-charge, Adam Tucker, speaks at a news conference in Santa Barbara, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019. Homendi discussed the ongoing investigation of how the Conception diving boat became engulfed in flames and killed dozens on board. (AP Photo/Christian Monterrosa)
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member Jennifer Homendi pauses as she speaks at a news conference in Santa Barbara, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019. Homendi discussed the ongoing investigation of how the Conception diving boat became engulfed in flames and killed dozens on board. (AP Photo/Christian Monterrosa)
Torrance resident Dale Sheckler, seen here exiting the water onto the dive boat Conception on a past scuba diving trip, was supposed to be on the boat this weekend when it caught fire and sank, killing 34 people. (Photo courtesy Dale Sheckler)
JJ Lambert, 38, and his fiancee, Jenna Marsala, 33, hang up a dive flag in remembrance of the victims of the Conception boat fire at a memorial site on Monday, Sept. 2, 2019, in Santa Barbara, Calif. A fire raged through the boat carrying recreational scuba divers anchored near an island off the Southern California coast early Monday, leaving multiple people dead and hope diminishing that any of the more than two dozen people still missing would be found alive. (AP Photo/Stefanie Dazio)
A commercial scuba-dive boat sank amid intense flames early off the coast of Southern California and 34 passengers were unaccounted for, the US Coast Guard said. Five Conception crew members were awake and jumped into the water when flames burst out around 3:15 am. (Courtesy of Ventura County Fire Department)
Local law enforcement and coroners work to retrieve the bodies found by diving teams after a deadly fire on the boat Conception, Monday, Sept. 2, 2019, in Santa Barbara, Calif. A fire raged through a boat carrying recreational scuba divers anchored near an island off the Southern California coast early Monday, leaving multiple people dead and hope diminishing that any of the remaining people still missing would be found alive. (AP Photo/Christian Monterrosa)
This image made from video released by TowBoatUS Ventura shows a burning out charter dive boat “Conception,” before it sank off Santa Cruz Island, near the coast of Ventura County, Calif., early Monday, Sept. 2, 2019. (Capt. Paul Amaral/TowBoatUS Ventura via AP)
The defense had asked the judge to sentence Boylan to a five-year probationary sentence, with three years to be served under house arrest.
“While the loss of life here is staggering, there can be no dispute that Mr. Boylan did not intend for anyone to die,” his attorneys wrote in a sentencing memo. “Indeed, Mr. Boylan lives with significant grief, remorse, and trauma as a result of the deaths of his passengers and crew.”
The Conception was anchored off Santa Cruz Island, 25 miles south of Santa Barbara, when it caught fire before dawn on the final day of a three-day excursion, sinking less than 100 feet from shore.
Thirty-three passengers and a crew member died, trapped in a bunkroom below deck. Among the dead were the deckhand, who had landed her dream job; an environmental scientist who conducted research in Antarctica; a globe-trotting couple; a Singaporean data scientist; and a family of three sisters, their father and his wife.
Boylan was the first to abandon ship and jump overboard. Four crew members who joined him also survived.
Thursday’s sentencing was the final step in a fraught prosecution that’s lasted nearly five years and repeatedly frustrated the victims’ families.
A grand jury in 2020 initially indicted Boylan on 34 counts of seaman’s manslaughter, meaning he could have faced a total of 340 years behind bars. Boylan’s attorneys argued the deaths were the result of a single incident and not separate crimes, so prosecutors got a superseding indictment charging Boylan with only one count.
In 2022, U.S. District Judge George Wu dismissed the superseding indictment, saying it failed to specify that Boylan acted with gross negligence. Prosecutors were then forced to go before a grand jury again.
Although the exact cause of the blaze aboard the Conception remains undetermined, the prosecutors and defense sought to assign blame throughout the 10-day trial last year.
The government said Boylan failed to post the required roving night watch and never properly trained his crew in firefighting. The lack of the roving watch meant the fire was able to spread undetected across the 75-foot boat.
But Boylan’s attorneys sought to pin blame on Glen Fritzler, who with his wife owns Truth Aquatics Inc., which operated the Conception and two other scuba dive boats, often around the Channel Islands. They argued that Fritzler was responsible for failing to train the crew in firefighting and other safety measures, as well as creating a lax seafaring culture they called “the Fritzler way,” in which no captain who worked for him posted a roving watch.
The Fritzlers have not spoken publicly about the tragedy since an interview with a local TV station a few days after the fire. Their attorneys have never responded to requests for comment from The Associated Press.
With the conclusion of the criminal case, attention now turns to several ongoing lawsuits.
Three days after the fire, Truth Aquatics filed suit under a pre-Civil War provision of maritime law that allows it to limit its liability to the value of the remains of the boat, which was a total loss. The time-tested legal maneuver has been successfully employed by the owners of the Titanic and other vessels, and requires the Fritzlers to show they were not at fault.
That case is pending, as well as others filed by victims’ families against the Coast Guard for what they allege was lax enforcement of the roving watch requirement.Although the exact cause of the blaze aboard the Conception remains undetermined, the prosecutors and defense sought to assign blame throughout the 10-day trial last year.
The government said Boylan failed to post the required roving night watch and never properly trained his crew in firefighting. The lack of the roving watch meant the fire was able to spread undetected across the 75-foot (23-meter) boat.
But Boylan’s attorneys sought to pin blame on Glen Fritzler, who with his wife owns Truth Aquatics Inc., which operated the Conception and two other scuba dive boats, often around the Channel Islands. They argued that Fritzler was responsible for failing to train the crew in firefighting and other safety measures, as well as creating a lax seafaring culture they called “the Fritzler way,” in which no captain who worked for him posted a roving watch.
The Fritzlers have not spoken publicly about the tragedy since an interview with a local TV station a few days after the fire. Their attorneys have never responded to requests for comment from The Associated Press.
With the conclusion of the criminal case, attention now turns to several ongoing lawsuits.
Three days after the fire, Truth Aquatics filed suit under a pre-Civil War provision of maritime law that allows it to limit its liability to the value of the remains of the boat, which was a total loss. The time-tested legal maneuver has been successfully employed by the owners of the Titanic and other vessels, and requires the Fritzlers to show they were not at fault.
That case is pending, as well as others filed by victims’ families against the Coast Guard for what they allege was lax enforcement of the roving watch requirement.
