Captain of the ‘Conception’ Sentenced to Four Years in Boat Fire that Killed 34 People

Jerry Boylan received four years in prison in the criminal prosecution of the deaths of 33 scuba divers and one crewmember in the tragic Conception dive boat fire, which blazed out of control in the early morning hours of Labor Day in 2019 while the boat was anchored less than 60 feet off Santa Cruz Island.

Prosecutors had argued for the maximum sentence, 10 years, saying that Boylan was the captain of the ship, and with life and death at stake, he chose to save himself first: “He was the first to abandon ship. He instructed his crew to do the same, multiple times. In doing so, he left all 34 victims onboard the Conception to die.”

The families of the victims added their voices to the plea in the prosecutors’ sentencing memo: “Boylan’s reckless actions shattered the foundation of our existence and left a trail of devastation and despair.” “For much of your career, you rolled the dice — with your passengers’ lives being the stakes. Except, they, not being aware of the rules, trusted you with their lives.” “My family and I were devastated. My parents, who were 94 and 98 at the time, were stunned into grief that they carried to their own graves.”

After the sentencing, Susana Solano Rosas, who lost her daughters Evan, Nicole, and Angela Quitasol, and her ex-husband Michael Quitasol that terrible day, felt it was “insane” that Boylan didn’t receive the maximum sentence for the lives of 34 people. She and her fourth daughter, Christina Quitasol, attended each day of the trial, and Solano Rosas recalled how indescribable it had been to view again a video on a cellphone located in the wreckage. It reawakened the trauma and emotion of learning through the coroner reports that her loved ones, whom she had earlier been told had died in their sleep, “woke up, got dressed, and were preparing to be rescued.” Solano Rosas said, “Sentenced to four years, but he walked out of that courtroom, free until the next hearing. Where is the justice?”

Christina Quitasol attended the trial with her daughter, Nevan, whom she’d named after her three sisters. No matter the verdict, zero years or 10, she said, she would be mad. “My dad [Michael Quitasol] alone had at least 10 more healthy working years of his life yet.” She recalled how another family member had said 34 life sentences were handed out, and two of them were just kids. “It definitely doesn’t feel fair to most of us,” Quitasol said, adding that she and her mother believed Truth Aquatics owner Glen Fritzler to be as equally responsible as Jerry Boylan.

Boylan was represented by federal public defenders in the single count of seaman’s manslaughter, who argued for leniency, suggesting three years of home incarceration and five years’ probation, given Boylan’s 70 years of age and poor health.

“Mr. Boylan too has experienced profound grief, remorse, and emotional despair since the accident,” Public Defender Georgina Wakefield wrote in Boylan’s sentencing position. Wakefield stated Boylan knew many of the victims personally, among them Kristina Finstad, who had organized the dive trip with Worldwide Diving Adventures. Her father had started the company, and Boylan knew him well and Kristy since she was a child. Boylan knew many of the divers from previous trips and considered them friends. He had worked before with the youngest crewmember, Alexandra Kurtz, who had slept below with the passengers and died with them of smoke inhalation, the Santa Barbara County coroner had determined.

Boylan was “crippled with pain and guilt,” a “shell” of the man he had been, Wakefield asserted, suffering “grief and sorrow since the accident.” She stated Boylan himself nearly died, struggling to breathe as he radioed for help while the wheelhouse filled with smoke. His crew thought he was on fire when he jumped into the sea, smoke trailing behind him. And first responders worried for his own safety after they arrived, finding Boylan in a fetal position, “sobbing, vomiting, dry-heaving … muttering to himself incoherently.”

Wakefield also asserted Boylan’s other line of defense: that the deaths were the fault of his employer, Truth Aquatics, which had no oversight of its captains, enforcement of the rules for a roving night patrol, or other rules about training the crew.

In addressing the lack of crew training or drills, the prosecutors stated Boylan knew he had an inexperienced crew, but “never conducted a single fire drill with his crew.” They listed the firefighting equipment aboard the ship: an axe in the wheelhouse, stations equipped with 50-foot firehoses on both sides of the galley/salon that could pump “unlimited amounts” of seawater to fight a fire, and six fire extinguishers on all three decks.

They also noted a video found on the cell phone of passenger Patricia Beitzinger, recorded in the bunkroom at 3:17 a.m., three minutes after Boylan leapt overboard. One person can be heard saying “There’s got to be more extinguishers,” and a spent fire extinguisher with its pin pulled was found after the Conception was lifted from the bottom of Platt’s Harbor.

The prosecutors pressed their case: “Had defendant taken even the most basic safety precautions in the lead-up to the fire as he was required to do, or acted with any courage or composure during the fire, some or all of the 34 people in the bunkroom could have been saved.”

The most poignant point prosecutors made might be the birthdays celebrated the night before the fire. Tia Nicole Salika-Adamic turned 17, and her parents, Diana Adamic and Steven Salika, had organized the dive trip with her friend Berenice Felipe to celebrate. Michael Quitasol was also celebrated that night for his 62nd birthday, on the dive trip with three of his daughters, Angela, Nicole, and Evan Quitasol, and their stepmother, Fernisa Sison.

In the federal Central District Court in Los Angeles on Thursday, Judge George Wu said that determining Boylan’s sentence was one of his most difficult, the Los Angeles Times reported. Wu disagreed that Boylan had abandoned ship and said he believed Boylan to be “incredibly remorseful” during the 10-day trial. He gave Boylan 48 months in federal prison and set a restitution hearing for July 11.

Among the dueling legal papers, a positive fact was presented. Although Truth Aquatics is being sued in other cases stemming from the Conception tragedy, its former captains and other ships’ captains in Santa Barbara reported adding night watches whenever passengers are sleeping on board.