San Diego

A judge refused to shorten the prison sentence of an El Cajon man whose broadcast of a fictitious nighttime sea disaster sent rescue agencies scurrying about Mission Bay last year.

U.S. District Judge Judith Keep on Monday denied a request made on behalf of Robert McCombs, 21, that would have moved him into a halfway house for four months before allowing him to be released on probation for the duration of his sentence.

Public defender Bernie Skomal made the request on behalf of McCombs, who didn’t appear in court. He has served about 16 months of his five-year sentence for making a false statement of material fact to the U.S. Coast Guard.

McCombs put out a broadcast on the evening of Feb. 26, 1986, that he was aboard a boat that was rescuing passengers from two boats that had collided. The Coast Guard, which picked up the broadcast, scrambled rescue helicopters to help and other agencies were called in as the hours passed and no sign of the reported collision was spotted.

Authorities found McCombs late that night in his boat at a Mission Bay dock and arrested him for making the false broadcast.