A Florida submarine captain has been charged with “mariner manslaughter” more than four years after he backed into a couple, leaving the woman trapped in moving propellers.
According to federal prosecutors, Dustin McCabe, 49, bought a 48-foot boat named the Southern Comfort in March 2020 and told the U.S. Coast Guard he wanted to use it for recreational purposes.
But McCabe is said to have instead used the vessel for paid diving trips out of Palm Beach County.
He was on only his third trip on March 29, 2020, when he took Sean Flynn and Mollie Ghiz-Flynn to an area known as Breaker’s Reef for a dive trip, according to The Palm Beach Post.
It was during that trip that Ghiz-Flynn was pronounced dead, with federal prosecutors arguing that his negligence “caused the death of [Ghiz-Flynn] be destroyed, reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Dustin McCabe, 49, faces federal charges of ‘seaman’s manslaughter’
A now-settled lawsuit alleges that the couple surfaced after their first dive and the crew of the Southern Comfort waved them back to the boat.
But when the couple tried to get back on board, McCabe allegedly put the boat in reverse, causing both Sean and Mollie to be sucked under, the complaint states. according to Click Orlando.
Ghiz-Flynn was then sucked into the moving propellers and her husband was unable to free her.
Two people on board then jumped into the water to pull her out and gave her CPR. Florida Today reported this at the time.
Sadly, the indictment states that their efforts to save Ghiz-Flynn were in vain. Sean “watched in horror as the futile efforts to save his wife, who had already been pronounced dead by the time the ship returned to the marina.
The cause of death was determined to be “drowning” with “lacerations to the lower extremities as a significant contributing factor,” according to the lawsuit, which was settled in November 2020.
According to the Palm Beach Post, the terms of the settlement were never disclosed.
Federal prosecutors say he acted negligently when he took Sean Flynn and Mollie Ghiz-Flynn on a dive on March 29, 2022
The lawsuit also named North Palm Beach Marina as a defendant, as a submarine ban was in effect at the time of the fatal accident as part of the COVID lockdown.
It was claimed that the marina should never have facilitated the dive in the first place.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the marina for comment.
But after the settlement, an attorney representing Flynn said he was “pleased that we were able to obtain some semblance of justice for Sean and for Mollie’s family.
“Mollie’s life was taken too soon and it was important to demand full accountability for this preventable tragedy,” Michael Winkleman told the Palm Beach Post.
Ghiz-Flynn was sucked into the boat’s propellers after McCabe reportedly put the boat in reverse
Ghiz-Flynn’s father, Jack Ghiz, remembered his daughter after her death 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. Everybody loved her.”
A online obituary also described her as a selfless woman and a devoted wife.
“When you were with her, you knew she was special, because of her beauty and her down-to-earth personality. You always knew where you stood with her,” it said.
It also said that Ghiz-Flynn was a teenage model who loved swimming.
“Her courage was incredible and from a young age she was fearless,” the obituary reads. “Her family often went to the water parks, where she barely made the height restrictions on the scariest rides. But nothing would stop her from getting on and going; she was fearless.”
Later in life, Ghiz-Flynn worked with students with disabilities and taught life skills to young adults with Asperger syndrome.
‘She always cared for others, sometimes even more than herself.’
On July 1, 2017, she married Flynn. She planned the wedding herself.
“Mollie cherished Sean and the life they shared together,” the obituary read.
‘Sean was the only one who could break through her tough, outward personality, and he fell in love with the sweet, loving, compassionate, and beautiful Mollie that she and her family had always known.’
In an online obituary, Ghiz-Flynn was described as a devoted wife to her husband, whom she married in July 2017
McCabe was banned from providing paid services on his boat after Ghiz-Flynn’s untimely death, but he used his company, Florida Scuba Charters Inc., to apply for two loans under the COVID-era Payment Protection Program, federal prosecutors say.
According to the Sun-Sentinel, he received two separate loans that were both later forgiven: one for more than $18,000 and the other for more than $20,000.
McCabe now also faces one count of making false statements and three counts of internet fraud.
He was arrested late last month by special agents with the Coast Guard Investigative Service and now faces up to 35 years in prison.
McCabe is expected to make his initial court appearance on September 12.
