Some relief for Bleser.....
Documents support claim of WET team
By THERESA JAVA Free Press StaffOctober 24, 2018
KEY LARGO — Information that would appear to give credence to Rob Bleser as being the local fire department’s Water Emergency Team captain during the recovery of Rob Stewart, a 37-year-old Canadian filmmaker who died while diving to film a documentary, has come to light.
That relationship has since been disavowed by the Key Largo Fire Rescue and Emergency Medical Services District board, which claims Bleser was affiliated with the district’s previous fire services contractor and not the current department.
Bleser deployed a submergible remote-operated vehicle to scour the ocean’s bottom about 220 feet deep in a grid-like pattern for three days where Stewart was last seen on Jan. 31, 2017. His body was recovered Feb. 3.
In emails provided to the Florida Keys Free Press by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Bleser had been contacted by Key Largo Volunteer Fire Department’s Chief Don Bock and remained in communication with Bock, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Coast Guard. Bock is chief of the district’s contracted service provider, the Key Largo Ambulance Corps, and its subsidiary, the Key Largo Volunteer Fire Department.
Bleser, at the time of the recovery, had been affiliated with the Key Largo firefighting crews since 1999 and had garnered national recognition for the recovery effort before legal and administrative questions were raised over the recovery.
Former Monroe County Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Beaver alleged Bleser had no authority to recover the body. He wrote in an email to Bock that human recoveries must be authorized by the medical examiner under state statute. He wrote that “no approval was requested nor given to recover Stewart’s remains.” The thread of Beaver’s emails began Feb. 1, the first day Bleser had attempted recovery.
Weeks later, a private investigator hired on behalf of Stewart’s family asked the Key Largo Volunteer Fire Department for the video captured by the ROV when it found Stewart’s body
The video was provided to the private investigator, who was critical of Bock for taking 10 days to respond to his request.
“If I do not hear back from you by close of business tomorrow I will contact all members of your commission. If that fails the statute provides several courses of actions I can take, the most severe of which is to refer this matter to the State of Florida for criminal prosecution for violating the stated acts. … Govern yourself accordingly,” the investigator at one point emailed to Bock while awaiting a response.
Within three months of Stewart’s body being recovered, Beaver was sacked by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission for his inability to work with law enforcement and county agencies. Roughly within the same timeframe, the fire department and district had completely disavowed ever having had a Water Emergency Team, or WET team.
The fire department’s attorney, Jack Bridges, said there was no such team mainly because the fire department never insured one.
“We have never had insurance that would cover a dive team of the type that Mr. Bleser runs/ran,” Bridges wrote in an email to the Free Press.
Yet, the fire department logged the three-day activity with Bleser’s name as officer in charge. And the district’s 2016-17 budget included $800 for a WET team which Bridges said was never used since the new department took over in 2013.
In 2013, shortly after the district contracted the current service provider, Bock emailed members of the WET team to submit their applications to be retained no later than May 27, which were also provided to the Free Press.
“With assistance of Capt. Bleser, a training program will be developed to instruct personnel on the proper safety procedures for water rescue operations,” Bock wrote in May 2014 to members of the WET team.
Bleser, who has had to hire an attorney due to the district rejecting any affiliation with him, said he followed protocol for underwater recoveries as he had done for all prior incidences.
On Oct. 18, 2013, shortly after the district contracted with the new service provider, Bleser, listed on behalf of Key Largo Volunteer Fire Department on a Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Dive Operation Report, worked with the sheriff’s office and the U.S. Coast Guard to recover the body of a scuba diver lost within the Spiegel Grove.
The following year, Bleser, again working with local agencies, located the remains of Noah Cullen within a sunken sailboat off Key Largo.
Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team Leader Sgt. Mark Coleman, in a sworn affidavit last week, said he contacted Bleser for help with Stewart’s recovery in 2017 and that he worked closely with him on other recovery missions.
“Within those two days, Captain Bleser called to inquire about procedures to follow if the missing diver was located. … Captain Bleser informed me that the decedent and equipment were turned over to the USCG at the site, while the recovery divers were still underwater decompressing,” Coleman wrote.
The district board initially looked at bringing Bleser aboard officially following the Stewart recovery but efforts stalled mainly due to insurance concerns, according to the district’s counselor at the time, Theron Simmons.
“I’m not sure it’s worth us wasting anymore time or effort in pursuing this,” Simmons said during the July meeting in reference to the dive team matter. “I think it’s time to take this off our agenda. We are waiting on a close-out of the case.”
Following the release last week in Canada of Stewart’s “Sharkwater Extinction” film, another documentary, “The Third Dive,” is set to be released this weekend. The film is described as an investigative look into whether Stewart’s death was a tragic accident, a result of negligence or a conspiracy of silence.
“Third Dive” filmmaker Robert Osborne, also of Canada, said he questions whether Bleser should have been involved in the recovery, since Medical Examiner Beaver did not authorize anyone to remove the body.
Bleser said he was just trying to do what he thought was right.
“In my heart, I was trying to do the right thing, as a human, as part of the fire department like I’ve always done,” he told the Free Press.
Steve Campbell, a former WET team member, said the blowback that Bleser has faced has been on account of the fire department not taking accountability for its own actions.
Bleser said he’s lost count as to how many rescue and recovery missions he’s been a part of over the years, but estimated about 15. The majority have had successful outcomes, especially when two of the missing were found alive.
