Another Boat Is Seized Over Small Amount of Marijuana

In the second seizure off California 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 that 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.

Held More Than 5 Hours

The 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 more than five hours. Two were released Thursday afternoon, but the third man was charged with drug possession and was turned over to local authorities because of an outstanding arrest warrant in an unrelated matter, according to John Miller, a Customs spokesman.

The sailboat was seized at about 2 a.m. Thursday after 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 officers on board the Harbor Police boat decided to search the 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 of the boat: “I just bought it. The damn thing may not even be in my name yet.”

She said she had posted the required 10% of her son’s $2,000 bail and that 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 someplace to live.” She declined to say how much the boat is worth.

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

Brown said her son was stopped as he returned to the boat with a load of groceries he had just purchased.

She said she will try to recover the boat, and planned to board it later Thursday to retrieve her son’s cat, which lived on board.

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 U.S. 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 near Long Beach. Attempts to reach them for comment were unsuccessful.

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

One of the other crewmen, who declined to give his name, said Thursday of the marijuana: “It wasn’t ours. It must have been left over by the last crew.” The man said the crew was unaware that any drugs were on board until the Coast Guard team discovered them Wednesday.