Captain of Conception dive boat disaster sentenced to 4 years in prison

The captain of the Conception dive boat that caught fire near Santa Cruz Island in 2019, killing all 33 passengers and one crew member, was sentenced to four years in prison and three years of supervised release by a federal judge Thursday.

Jerry Boylan was convicted last year of a federal Civil War-era charge known as seaman’s manslaughter and prosecutors had been seeking 10 years in prison. Boylan is scheduled to surrender in July.

U.S District Judge George H. Wu heard more than 17 victim impact statements for several hours in the crowded courtroom, including from the mother of the youngest victim, 16-year-old Berenice Felipe, and the Quitasol family, who lost five people in the fire. 

Wu said Boylan was "incredibly remorseful,” but some of the family members of the victims, who wore shirts and carried photos honoring their loved ones, didn’t feel the same way and left the sentencing frustrated.

Vicki Moore, who’s husband Scott Chan and daughter Kendra Chan were among those who died, repeated a message shared by many of the families. 

“All of us are serving our own life sentence of grief and loss, it doesn’t go away.”

Kathleen McIlvain, whose 44-year-old son Charles McIlvain was among the victims, said they’re relieved this is finally over at a news conference after the sentencing.

“Our lives are changed forever, and I don't really know how that we go forward, but we'll give it a shot for Charlie,” she said.

Vicki Moore, who lost her husband Scott Chan, left, and her daughter Kendra Chan, right, in the 2019 Conception fire spoke at a news conference in downtown Los Angeles after the boat captain's sentencing.

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Makenna Sievertson

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LAist

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Kathleen and Clark McIlvain hold a photo of their son, Charles McIlvain, who died in September 2019 in the Conception dive boat fire outside a federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles.

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Makenna Sievertson

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LAist

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Boylan and four other crew members abandoned ship on Sept. 2, 2019, as the passengers, who ranged in age from 16 to their 60s, were trapped below deck in the middle of the night during the fire. The ship eventually sank not far offshore.

The fire is considered one of the worst modern maritime disasters.

The exact cause of the fire was never determined, but a final report from federal safety investigators blamed the boat’s operator, Truth Aquatics, for numerous safety lapses. A key one, prosecutors argued, was the fact that Boylan failed to have a roving night patrol on the 75-foot vessel as passengers and crews slept, allowing the fire to spread undetected until it was too late.

"This ship captain's unpardonable cowardice led to the deaths of 34 lives," Martin Estrada, U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement. "As the jury found, this tragedy could have been avoided had Mr. Boylan simply performed the duties he was entrusted to carry out."

Defense attorney attempted to place blame on the ship's owner for not requiring Boylan to have more safety measures in place.

The tragedy prompted a lawsuit by the family and victims and new safety rules requiring boats to install fire detection and suppression equipment.