San Diego

A federal grand jury Friday indicted a 21-year-old San Diego man on charges that he made a false-distress call to the U.S. Coast Guard that two boats had collided and people had been injured or killed.

A massive search off Ocean Beach on Feb. 26 for the alleged victims resulted in the arrest of Robert Bryan McCombs on a boat in Mission Bay. The Coast Guard, Harbor Patrol, San Diego police, lifeguards and Life Flight personnel were all involved in the search.

McCombs, who has remained without bail in the Metropolitan Correctional Center since his arrest, will be arraigned Tuesday in U.S. District Court.

McCombs could receive a sentence of 15 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000, according to John Kraemer, an assistant U.S. attorney.

“He said he made the calls because no one else would talk to him for the past two months,” Lonnie Lietz, a special agent with the Coast Guard, said in a court declaration.

“The calls started as a practical joke.”

At 8:41 p.m. on Feb. 26, the Coast Guard received an emergency call saying two people on the Peggy Sue were injured after a collision with the Calija.

“The transmission tied up Channel 16, the primary U.S. marine VHF-FM distress frequency, for approximately 2.5 hours. The calls made it impossible to monitor other traffic on Channel 16,” Lietz stated.

The search was conducted in foggy weather.

The two felony charges claim that McCombs interfered with the use of a safety frequency and that he made false representations to the Coast Guard.