A Florida dive boat captain is facing charges of “seaman’s homicide” more than four years after he crashed into a couple and left the wife trapped in the moving propellers.
Dustin McCabe, 49, was on just his third trip aboard the Southern Comfort in March 2020, when he took Sean Flynn and Mollie Ghiz-Flynn to an area known as Breaker’s Reef for a diving trip.
The pair resurfaced after completing their first dive and were waved back to the boat by the crew aboard the vessel, a now-settled lawsuit alleges. according to Click Orlando.
But when the pair attempted to reboard, McCabe allegedly put the boat into reverse, causing both Sean and Mollie to be sucked under.
Ghiz-Flynn was then swept away by the moving propellers and her husband was unable to free her.
Dustin McCabe, 49, faces federal charges for ‘seaman’s homicide’
Two people on board jumped into the water to help her out and performed CPR. This was reported at the time by Florida Today.
Unfortunately, the lawsuit says his efforts to save Ghiz-Flynn were in vain, and Sean “watched in horror as his efforts to save his wife were unsuccessful, and she was pronounced dead when the boat returned to the marina.
“The cause of death was determined to be ‘drowning’ with ‘stab wounds to the lower extremities as a significant contributing factor,'” reads the lawsuit, which was settled in November 2020.
But McCabe now faces involuntary manslaughter charges, with federal prosecutors alleging his negligence “caused (Ghiz-Flynn’s) life to be destroyed.” According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Federal prosecutors say he acted negligently when he took Sean Flynn and Mollie Ghiz-Flynn scuba diving on March 29, 2022.
Prosecutors say he purchased the 48-foot boat named Southern Comfort in March 2020, telling the U.S. Coast Guard he would use it for recreational purposes.
But instead he used the boat to operate paid diving charters out of Palm Beach County.
Federal prosecutors further allege that McCabe was suspended from providing paid services on his boat after the tragedy, but still used his business, Florida Scuba Charters Inc., to apply for two COVID-era Paycheck Protection Program loans.
She received two separate loans that were later forgiven, one for more than $18,000 and another for more than $20,000, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
As such, McCabe now also faces one count of making false statements and three counts of wire fraud.
He was arrested late last month by special agents with the Coast Guard Investigative Service and now faces up to 35 years behind bars.
McCabe is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Sept. 12.
Ghiz-Flynn was sucked into the boat’s propellers after McCabe allegedly put the boat in reverse.
He had previously settled a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Flynn.
The terms of the deal were never disclosed, according to the Palm Beach Post.
The lawsuit also named North Palm Beach Marina as a defendant, because at the time of the fatal accident, there was a ban on dive boats as part of the COVID lockdown.
He said the marina should never have facilitated diving in the first place.
DailyMail.com has contacted the marina for comment.
But after the settlement, a lawyer representing Flynn said he was “pleased to have been able to obtain some semblance of justice for Sean and Mollie’s family.”
“Mollie’s life was taken far too soon and it was important to seek full accountability for what was an avoidable tragedy,” Michael Winkleman told the Palm Beach Post.
An online obituary described Ghiz-Flynn as a devoted wife to her husband, whom she married in July 2017.
Ghiz-Flynn’s father, Jack Ghiz, remembered his daughter after the accident as “the most wonderful, beautiful person in the world.”
“She could do no wrong,” he told Florida Today. “She was the glue of the family. Everyone loved her.”
A online obituary He also described her as a selfless woman and a devoted wife.
“If you were in her presence, you knew she was special, from her beauty to her down-to-earth personality; you always knew your place with her,” he said.
She went on to say that Ghiz-Flynn was a teenage model who loved to swim.
“His courage was incredible and from a very young age he was fearless,” the obituary says. “His family frequented water parks, where he barely made it past the height restrictions on the scariest rides. But nothing was going to stop him from getting on and riding them; he was fearless.”
Later in life, Ghiz-Flynn worked with students with disabilities and taught life skills to young adults with Asperger’s syndrome.
‘She was always looking out for others, sometimes before herself.’
She married Flynn on July 1, 2017 in a wedding she hosted herself.
“Mollie cherished Sean and the life they shared,” the obituary says.
‘Sean was the only one who managed to overcome his tough exterior personality and fall in love with the sweet, loving, compassionate and beautiful Mollie that she and her family had always known.’
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