The U.S. Coast Guard is seeking information about several search-and-rescue calls made in the last two days that are believed to be hoaxes and may have originated out of state.
On Wednesday, at 3:51 p.m., the Coast Guard got a report in a male child’s voice stating, “My boat just ran out of gas in the middle of Portland, Maine. Can you send a rescue boat out to get me.” The call ended with “S.O.S.”
According to the Coast Guard, the call actually originated from a radio tower in Charlotte, Vermont. Using location detection technology, the agency said the caller appeared to be near Burlington, Vermont, on the eastern shore of Lake Champlain.
Yesterday at 4:04 p.m., the same person made a report stating, “This is a 25-foot speedboat stuck in the middle of Maine” and again ended the call with “S.O.S,” the Coast Guard said.
The caller then made two additional calls stating “S.O.S.”
In a statement, the Coast Guard said the channel used by the caller, VHF Channel 16, is for international hailing and distress only, and knowingly transmitting false distress calls is a federal crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines plus the cost of the search.
In 2015, a Maine man was sentenced to one year in prison, according to the Coast Guard, with three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $15,000 in restitution to Coast Guard for making fake distress calls. In 2021, another Maine man was sentenced to four days in jail, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $17,500 in restitution to the U.S. Coast Guard for a false distress call.
The Coast Guard is asking anyone with information to call the Sector Northern New England Command Center at 833-449-2407. Listen to the recordings below.