Orange Man, 5 Other Californians on Boat : Indonesian Detention Extended

Indonesian authorities have extended by 20 days the period they may continue to detain an Orange County man and five other Californians on a boat in Indonesian waters, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

Danny Commerford, a 38-year-old building inspector from Orange, two Los Angeles residents, three other Californians, three Australians and several Indonesian crew members are being investigated on suspicion of illegally entering restricted waters in search of underwater treasures, said Ruth van Heuven, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Consul Affairs in Washington.

The crew has been detained since March 22 in the boat they chartered in Singapore. No formal charges have been filed by Indonesian officials, who stopped their boat about 20 miles off the shore of Sumatra, van Heuven said.

Under Indonesian law, no person can be held for more than 20 days without formal charges being filed, said Dona Sherman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Consul Affairs.

It is not unusual, however, for the Indonesian government to extend that initial 20-day period, she said, even indefinitely.

Sherman said Indonesian officials have not said why formal charges have not been filed. After the initial 20-day grace period expired April 11, it was extended on April 14 for another 20 days.

According to van Heuven, the crew will be held on the ship until the investigation is completed. She said the U.S. Bureau of Consul Affairs is making sure that the men are being provided with medical attention, food, water and legal counsel.

The crew is in “good health” and has contact with U.S. officials in Medan, an Indonesian city northwest of Singapore, van Heuven said.

Commerford’s wife, Debi, said earlier this month that her husband was in Indonesia to start a building inspecting business in Singapore.

She denied that he and the others were looking for underwater treasures. She said her husband told her he was on a scuba vacation.

Indonesian officials believe that the crew was searching for the valuables from a Dutch ship that sank in those waters more than 200 years ago, van Heuven said.

Indonesian officials believe that the sophisticated sonar equipment found on the boat was to be used in that search, she said.