2nd Boat Seized; Coast Guard Says Small Amount of Narcotics Found

SAN DIEGO — In the second boat seizure off the California coast in two days, the Coast Guard on Thursday took possession of a 40-foot sailboat moored in San Diego Harbor after finding a small amount of marijuana on a 26-year-old man who lived on board, officials said.

The man’s mother said Thursday she had purchased the boat only days earlier and had warned her son about the danger of being caught with illegal drugs aboard.

The seizure was part of the Coast Guard’s “zero-tolerance” crackdown on vessels carrying even minuscule amounts of illegal drugs.

The Maria Elena, a $200,000, 55-foot commercial fishing boat, was seized Wednesday 75 miles west of San Diego after a Coast Guard team working off a Navy ship boarded it and found less than an ounce of marijuana and a small amount of methamphetamine, officials said.

1 Charged With Possession

The fishing trawler arrived in San Diego Harbor on Thursday morning under Coast Guard escort, and its three crew members were held at a U.S. Customs Service pier for more than five hours. Two were released Thursday afternoon, but the third man was charged with drug possession and turned over to local authorities because of an outstanding arrest warrant in an unrelated matter, according to John Miller, a Customs Service spokesman.

The sailboat was seized about 2 a.m Thursday after the San Diego Harbor police stopped Douglas Brown, 26, to question him about the lack of a signal light on the dinghy he had just rowed to the sailboat, according to Capt. Martin Hight of the harbor police. Brown appeared to be under the influence of drugs, Hight said, and Coast Guard boarding officers who were on board the harbor police boat decided to search Brown’s sailboat.

Brown was carrying a small amount of marijuana in a plastic bag and a small amount of methamphetamine, Hight said.

Brown’s mother, Louise Brown of San Diego, said Thursday, “I just bought it (the boat).” She said she had posted the required 10% of her son’s $2,000 bond and her son was released Thursday. “We had talked about this. I was just warning him about the drug seizures,” Louise Brown said. “I bought it for him so he’d have some place to live.” She declined to say how much the boat was worth.

“I am sure this has taught him a lesson,” Brown said. “He’s a fine boy or I wouldn’t have bought the boat for him.”

She said she will try to recover the boat.

Brown said she viewed the seizure as a publicity-seeking gesture by the Coast Guard. “They’re scaring everybody to death, but they’re not scaring the right people,” she said.

A Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman said Wednesday that the DEA would initiate a formal forfeiture proceeding against the sailboat’s owner.

Meanwhile, the Customs Service is proceeding against the owners of the Maria Elena, who were identified by the Coast Guard as Don and Violet McNabb of Terminal Island. Attempts to reach them for comment were unsuccessful.

Miller, the Customs Service spokesman, identified the crew member who was arrested as Eric Davis, 22, of Taft. He faces a federal charge of drug possession. Miller would not say where the drugs were found on the Maria Elena, but he said that the drugs could be connected to Davis. Davis was turned over to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department because of an outstanding warrant on an assault charge, Miller said.