Prison for diver’s death off Catalina - California

[DandyDon]

San Pedro man sentenced to prison for diver’s death off Catalina Island

A San Pedro man who’s had many brushes with the law will go back to prison for endangering another man’s life during a dive off Catalina Island last summer.
Craig Lightner, 50, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to four years in state prison, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
Lightner and the victim, Mark Rascon, 47, took a boat to Catalina Island on July 27, 2013, to catch blue-banded Goby fish, which is illegal, said Deputy District Attorney Carol Rose.

Lightner provided air hoses and breathing regulators for the two men to use during the dive, Rose said. However, the equipment was unsafe. Lightner also did not show Rascon how to properly use the gear.
During the dive, kelp likely became entangled in Rascon’s breathing equipment, said Rose, the prosecutor. Instead of helping Rascon, Lightner called the Coast Guard and said there was a missing diver.
While Lightner was waiting for the Coast Guard, he failed to provide aid to Rascon, the prosecutor said. By the time the Coast Guard arrived, Rascon was found dead in 80 feet of water. It was later determined that Rascon died from drowning due to an embolism.

Lightner was sentenced to 46 months in prison and fined $60,000 in 2006 for taking part in a human-trafficking operation.
He admitted to helping smuggle Mexican citizens in August 2004 and on four other occasions, according to court papers. He also pleaded guilty to smuggling protected angelfish from Mexico and was under investigation for trafficking marijuana and cocaine but was never charged.
“I’m sorry for my actions that have brought me to this court,” Lightner said at the time. “This situation has truly taught me a lesson, and I will never commit a crime again.”

 

[keller34]

He needs to be thrown away in some hole somewhere and left to eat rats.

 

[DandyDon]

Poaching and endangering an untrained diver are both bad, and I doubt he learned a real lesson - other than vowing to not get caught again. The only good actions I see in the article is that he did call the CG and not just abandon him.

I'm curious about the targeted fish? Wikipedia claims they are not native to Catalina waters, but on the other hand - not threatened? Wonder if it was a different fish? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lythrypnus_dalli

 

[Dive Right In Scuba 2]

I guess trafficking got boring so he graduated to killing a guy underwater? People never cease to amaze me.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

 

[gopbroek]

OK, maybe I am reading this wrong but what I get out of it was:
Human smuggling into California, no problem
Smuggling wildlife into California, no problem
Poaching in California, no problem
Calling the Coast Guard and involving the fed’s when a member of your poacher team fails to surface (later to have been found to have died of an embolism) well now the news media is involved and California throws the book at him. If it was not gift wrapped and already in the media I doubt the state of California would have gotten involved.
Where were the state authorities during the previous crimes?????

 

[letterboy]

There has to be more to the story.

If this guy had a paid attorney I would ask for my money back.

Gotta love kalifornia.

 

[Ken Kurtis]

For those of you who complain that there's never any follow-up offered concerning fatalities, here's a doozy for you.

The thumbnail is that these two were out illegally poaching Blue-Banded Gobies at Catalina Island. (EDIT) I should add, to make the newspaper article clearer, that they were using a very long-hosed hookah setup with a compressor on the boat supplying air as I recall. Can't recall if there was a bailout bottle or not. (END EDIT) Rascon (victim) was deemed to be working for Lightner and died of an embolism. Initially it was unclear as to whether this would be an OSHA case &/or whether some form of criminal charges would be filed. But congrats to the Sheriff's & Coroner's departments for staying with this and seeing justice done. Your plaudits should be directed to Det. Dave Carver of the LA County Sheriffs along with Chief Craig Harvey & Captain John Kades of the LA County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner.

From the L.A. Times: Man gets prison for diver's drowning death off Catalina Island - LA Times

I had hoped to post a link to the original thread here on ScubaBoard but can't seem to go back that far (only a year or so ago). Perhaps Pete or one of the mods can put up a link if the thread still exists.

- Ken

 

[Zeagle Eagle]

He needs to be thrown away in some hole somewhere and left to eat rats.

That's a terrible idea. What about those poor rats?:cool2: I would let the rats eat him.

 

[kelemvor]

OK, maybe I am reading this wrong but what I get out of it was:
Human smuggling into California, no problem

You must have mist this in DandyDon's post:

Lightner was sentenced to 46 months in prison and fined $60,000 in 2006 for taking part in a human-trafficking operation.


The article did sound odd.