Sentencing ‘a small measure of justice’

Scuba diving company owners get under five years in prison in 2011 drowning

After being on the run for

10 years, two British citizens who owned a business that operated charter scuba diving trips in the Florida Keys have been sentenced in the 2011 death of a diver when their boat sank.

Christopher Jones, 58, and Alison Gracey, 55, were sentenced Friday after pleading guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter in May. Jones will serve

51 months, about four years, in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Gracey was sentenced to time she had already served — one-and-a-half years and one year of supervised release, prosecutors said in a news release Friday.

On Dec. 18, 2011, Jones and Gracey’s business, the Key Largo Scuba Shack, had a group of six passengers aboard their 24-foot charter boat, called the “M/V

Get Wet,” out on a diving trip near Key Largo, court records say. Aimee Rhoads was one of the passengers — a 36-year-old wife and mother of a then 3-year-old girl.

The boat anchored at Molasses Reef near Key Largo, and the waters turned from calm to rough, court records say. By the time the divers got back in the boat, the stern had started to fill with water, collecting on the deck.

The 19-year-old operator of the boat told everyone aboard to move forward. The boat then sank, court records say, 30 feet to the ocean floor.

As it sank, a 334-pound bench covering the engine detached because it wasn’t properly secured and the bench, made of buoyant materials, floated until it pinned Rhoads leg against the windshield and trapped a second person, the document said.

Another charter boat came to help, and the Get Wet operator put on dive gear and swam under to the sunken boat to rescue Rhoads and the second person who was trapped, court records say.

It took 15 minutes for the operator to free Rhoads from the bench. Despite attempts at CPR, Rhoads had drowned and died, court records say. The second person was resuscitated and survived.

Months before Rhoads’ death, employees often told Jones the Get Wet “flooded dangerously,” court records say. And in the two months before Get Wet sank, the boat had to be towed to shore three times.

“One witness specifically recounted to authorities that the deck plates were barely attached and that the engine bench cover would rock back and forth,” court records say. “On one voyage with Gracey aboard as the dive master, the Get Wet almost sank.”

A captain told Jones he wouldn’t drive the boat in rough seas with passengers onboard because it wasn’t safe. Jones said he should be fired if he wouldn’t cooperate, according to the court document.

After it sank in December, the U.S. Coast Guard inspected, finding numerous deficiencies, including that none of the bilge compartments under the ship’s deck were watertight, loose deck plates and rotted wood at the bottom of the engine, among other safety hazards, the court record said. Jones and Gracey were aware of the repairs the Get Wet needed before Rhoads died.

In order for a charter boat company to make commercial trips with more than six passengers, the boat needs to be inspected by the Coast Guard, according to the court document. In multiple inspections, the Coast Guard said the Get Wet needed significant repairs — including securing the bench over the engine to the deck — before it would pass.

Rather than make the repairs, Jones told an employee in January 2011 to notify the Coast Guard that Key Largo Scuba Shack would operate the Get Wet as an uninspected boat, meaning they could only take trips with six passengers at most, the court document said.

Jones and Gracey ran from authorities, fleeing from country to country, “fighting extradition each time law enforcement found them,” prosecutors said. They were arrested in Spain in 2021 and extradited to the States in January 2022.

Pat Rhoads, who was married to Rhoads at the time of her death, said after 10 years of Jones and Gracey fleeing, he gave up hope that they would ever face the legal consequences for their actions.

“But I am relieved that at least we reached this day … They had their day in court, they’ve been sentenced and now that chapter is closed,” he said.

Rhoads traveled from his home in the Seattle area to attend Jones and Gracey’s sentencing hearing in Miami on Friday. He read a statement to the court about the lasting impact of his late wife’s death.

“She was short in stature, only 4-foot-10, but she was mighty of personality. She was strong willed in all the right ways,” he said. “When she loved you, she threw her whole self into it. She was just an incredible wife. We had the type of relationship people were jealous of. She was an incredible mother.”

Pat Rhoads said though he’s relieved Jones and Gracey have been sentenced and a “small measure of justice” has been served, he hoped for a longer sentence for Jones. Jones’ sentence of 51 months is on the low-end of the sentencing advisory range, according to court records.

That “sends a very dangerous message,” Pat Rhoads said.

“I hoped this would be a statement of deterrence for other operators … I don’t want another family losing a loved one and having to go through these things because the charter boat operators feel there’s not as much risk,” he said.