Wild chase with US Coast Guard off Miami Beach lands a Key West man in federal prison
A Key West man who evaded the U.S. Coast Guard for nearly two hours after hopping a boat into Biscayne Bay off Miami Beach has been sentenced to three months in federal prison.
Jeremie Calo, 44, will also have to serve one year of supervised release after his prison time, including seven months in home confinement, in addition to paying a $2,000 fine.
According to court documents, Calo was among six people on board a small boat that was heading from a bar in Miami Beach to a large sailboat just off shore on Aug. 14, 2022.
The boat was in a shipping channel when it was stopped by a Coast Guard crew. Because it was in the channel and no one on board was wearing life jackets, the Coast Guard ordered the people on the boat to board a patrol boat, which would take them to the sailboat, according to court records.
Everyone on board complied, except Calo, prosecutors said. A Coast Guard member forced him onto the patrol boat, but he then jumped into the water, court records show. The Coast Guard crew tried repeatedly to get Calo into the patrol boat, but he resisted, even slapping their hands away, prosecutors say.
Calo then swam to the beach and ran toward South Pointe Pier, where he was met by local police. He jumped back into the ocean, getting out of the water on a rock jetty, prosecutors say. He again tried running away, but was stopped by police, according to court records.
In total, Calo spent about two hours in the water trying to avoid capture, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a press release on Monday.
He pleaded guilty in September to one count of assaulting, resisting and impeding federal officers. He was sentenced last Wednesday.
Calo’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This story was originally published December 9, 2024 at 7:12 PM with the headline "Wild chase with US Coast Guard off Miami Beach lands a Key West man in federal prison."
