BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA — Federal authorities on Tuesday charged a 45-year-old felon with making a hoax call that launched a 23-hour, $350,000 air and sea search for nine people bobbing in the stormy Atlantic.

Robert J. Moran was arrested shortly after 4 p.m. at the home he shares with his wife and mother on Northeast 20th Avenue.

Authorities said Moran made the 63-minute fake distress call with a hand-held radio at 10:49 p.m. on June 11, claiming that his 33-foot boat Blue Sheep was taking on water 3 miles north of the Boynton Beach Inlet, and that his wife had fractured her leg and was bleeding profusely.

A false emergency report to the Coast Guard is a federal crime punishable by up to five years in prison, more than $250,000 in fines and the cost of the search.

Moran was expected to be booked into the Palm Beach County Jail.

It wasn't long before a tipster who recognized the caller's voice in a TV news account notified officials about Moran. Authorities said they did not know why Moran made the allegedly false distress call, nor could they pinpoint the exact location of it.

The unnecessary rescue effort cost $347,014.92, based on the hourly rate of two Coast Guard planes, two jets, two helicopters and two vessels, as well as wildlife commission and sheriff's office boats, said Lt. Cmdr. Chris O'Neil, Coast Guard spokesman.

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LARGO, FLORIDA - Officer Sean Mahabir headed to a Largo mobile home park when a woman suspected her 15-year-old son had stolen some radio equipment.

"He had CB radios and marine radios set up to a car battery and wires going outside and wires going out of the mobile home park window onto the ceiling where an antenna was rigged," Officer Mahabir said.

That's when he started putting together pieces of the puzzle. The teen was making fake mayday calls to the Coast Guard.

The first mayday came in on August 13th. The teen told the Coast Guard he was in the Pacific Ocean. They knew that was a hoax. But the fake calls continued for days.

One day he told the Coast Guard he was on a sinking boat under the Sunshine Skyway. Other days he claimed he was drowning. Each time the Clearwater Air Station sent out a rescue helicopter. Each time they found nothing.

Unbeknownst to the officer, the feds were already on the case. They had been patrolling the area doing what's called a triangulation, waiting for the teen to fire up the equipment again so they could pinpoint his exact location.

The teen's name is not being released because of his age but he faces serious charges. Two counts of burglary in Largo. Federal charges are pending. The FCC may charge him with operating a radio without an FCC license and the Coast Guard may charge him with making false distress calls.

The boy admitted he stole the equipment from his neighbors.

“This was his hobby and just wanted something to do," said Mahabir.

Authorities say the teen apparently learned about radio systems from his father, who is a trucker.

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