The captain of Conception, the Santa Barbara-based boat that caught fire on Labor Day last year, resulting in the deaths of 33 passengers and one crewmember on board, was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury on 34 counts of seaman’s manslaughter, according to information shared by the U.S. Department of Justice. The Sept. 2, 2019, incident was widely regarded as the worst maritime disaster in California history.
The US Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles announced Tuesday, Dec. 1, that 67-year-old Jerry Boylan of Santa Barbara was “responsible for the safety and security of the vessel, its crew, and its passengers.” Boylan is expected to surrender to authorities and go before a federal grand jury later this year.
Boylan’s two federal public defenders did not comment, the LA Times reported.
“As a result of the alleged failures of Captain Boylan to follow well-established safety rules, a pleasant holiday dive trip turned into a hellish nightmare as passengers and one crew member found themselves trapped in a fiery bunkroom with no means of escape,” United States Attorney Nick Hanna said in a statement after the charges were announced. “The federal charges were the culmination of a multi-agency investigation of the ship’s owner, Truth Aquatics, and its crew that began in the aftermath of the 2019 blaze,” the LA Times wrote.