The captain of a Honolulu-ported fishing vessel admitted Friday in federal court that he was sleeping as his boat sailed over the high seas with no one at the helm.
Kevin Van Lam, 43, of Honolulu, now faces up to eight years in prison and an $800,000 fine when he is sentenced in October.
The boat never endangered other vessels, but the infraction was documented by a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration observer on board.
Lam pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Honolulu to eight counts of operating a vessel in a grossly negligent manner so as to endanger the life, limb or property of another person.
The government filed criminal charges against Lam because he previously received a civil fine for sleeping when he was supposed to be piloting a fishing vessel that eventually crashed, said Thomas Brady of the U.S. Attorney’s office in Hawaii.
Lam committed the current offenses while master of the long-liner Lady Ann Margaret in 2011.
"I was tired at the time so I went to sleep," Lam explained to Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren through a Vietnamese interpreter. He said other crew members were watching while he slept, but by morning, "the crew went to sleep, too."
Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela Cook said an NOAA observer on the vessel watched Lam sleep in a rack near the back of the bridge with the vessel on autopilot for hours at a time.
She said the observer saw Lam commit the offense 19 times in August and September 2011.
The observer captured Lam sleeping on video on eight consecutive days in September, leading to the eight charges.
Cook said less than one year earlier, in January 2011, Lam was captain of the fishing vessel Sea Dragon, which had no one at the helm while Lam slept and the boat collided with another vessel.
No one was hurt, but the U.S. Coast Guard fined Lam $2,500.
Cook said Lam faces up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine for each of the eight counts.
Lam declined to comment after his hearing. He will be sentenced Oct. 24.
