MIAMI, FL – The owner and captain of a South Florida scuba charter vessel was sentenced Monday to more than eight years in federal prison after a jury found him guilty of seaman’s manslaughter, lying to the Coast Guard, and fraudulently obtaining COVID-19 relief funds.
Dustin Sean McCabe, 50, was sentenced to 100 months behind bars by U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon, who cited his reckless conduct and the tragic circumstances surrounding the death of a diver during a charter trip on his 48-foot vessel Southern Comfort.
McCabe purchased the vessel in early March 2020 and falsely claimed it was for recreational use, when in fact he had refitted it for commercial scuba charters. On March 28, 2020, McCabe took paying passengers out for a two-dive trip. During that trip, the vessel suffered repeated mechanical failures — including loss of steering and a propeller engaging unexpectedly while in neutral. At one point, a diver was nearly pulled into the spinning propeller.
Despite these issues, McCabe operated another paid trip the next day without repairing the vessel, alerting passengers to the prior dangers, or reporting the malfunctions to the Coast Guard. During the second trip, the same propeller malfunction occurred again — this time pulling a diver and her spouse into the blades as they were boarding from the water. The woman was killed.
After the fatality, McCabe was barred from operating the Southern Comfort, but in the months that followed, he applied for and received two Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans intended to support small businesses during the pandemic. He falsely claimed his scuba business was still operating and submitted fraudulent payroll and tax documentation to secure and later have the loans forgiven.
McCabe was found guilty in March of multiple federal charges including seaman’s manslaughter as both captain and vessel owner, false statements to the Coast Guard, and PPP loan fraud.
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Key Points
- Dustin McCabe was sentenced to 100 months in prison for seaman’s manslaughter and PPP fraud
- McCabe operated an unsafe scuba vessel that killed a diver in a preventable propeller accident
- He also fraudulently claimed COVID-19 relief funds after being barred from operating his business
A reckless scuba captain ran illegal charters that ended in a diver’s death — then lied his way into pandemic relief money.
