Key Largo scuba divemasters who evaded police for a decade, finally convicted for homicide

After more than 10 years on the run from authorities, British citizens Christopher Jones and Alison Gracey were sentenced in federal court in Miami for their role in the 2011 involuntary manslaughter death of a diver, the Southern District of Florida said on Friday. 

James Lawrence King, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court, sentenced Jones to 51 months in prison and a three-year term of supervised release.

Alison Gracey was sentenced to time she has already served in custody: 18.5 months and one year of supervised release. Both will be deported from the United States upon completion of their prison sentences.

Jones, 58, and Gracey, 55, owned Key Largo Scuba Shack, LLC, a company that operated dive charter trips in the Florida Keys from approximately June 2010 through December 2011.

They operated a 24.8-foot vessel named the M/V Get Wet as part of the business, when on December 18, 2011, the M/V Get Wet went on a dive trip with two crew and six passengers. During their first dive stop, sea conditions went from calm to rough and the vessel's operator noticed that the bilge pump had failed.

When the divers reboarded the boat after the dive, the boat began to fill with water and rock heavily. The Get Wet eventually capsized and quickly sank about 30 feet to the ocean floor.

During its descent, a 300-pound shoal that was not properly secured to the boat's deck became dislodged. Made of buoyant material, the bank jumped toward the ocean surface as the ship sank. The two large, heavy objects collided, pinning one of the passenger's legs against the windshield of the vessel. The passenger was trapped and drowned.

Coast Guard experts later inspected the Get Wet and found serious deficiencies. None of the Get Wet's bilge compartments, including the engine spaces below the boat's deck, were watertight.

The aft-most bilge space was covered by a deck plate with holes for 30 bolts, of which 22 were missing and the remaining eight were loose. The wood on the underside of the 300-pound bench was rotted and the bolts intended to secure it to the platform were too small.

Below deck, holes allowing water to flow between the various bilge compartments compromised all the bulkheads. A bilge pump had been improperly disassembled and reassembled, causing it to fail.

The Coast Guard's criminal investigation following the diver's death revealed that Jones and Gracey knew prior to the tragedy that the vessel was in need of repairs. Jones and Gracey continued to operate the M/V Get Wet despite the following, all of which occurred prior to December 18, 2011.

After inspections, the U.S. Coast Guard had notified Jones and Gracey that the vessel needed repairs, which included securing the center engine bank cover to the deck and making repairs below deck to ensure the watertight integrity of the bulkheads.

Employees of the dive operation repeatedly reported to Jones that Get Wet was dangerously flooded. The platform plates were barely attached and the engine bank deck was rocking back and forth.

The Get Wet broke down repeatedly and the ship's equipment failed, including pumps intended to empty the water from the ship.

On one trip with Gracey aboard as dive master, the Get Wet nearly sank.

In the two months before the ship sank, a marine salvor towed the Get Wet to shore on three separate occasions.

Shortly after the diver's death, Jones and Gracey fled the United States and spent more than 10 years moving from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, fighting extradition each time law enforcement found them.

They were finally arrested in 2021 in Spain, where Spanish authorities detained them based on an Interpol red alert.

In January 2022, Jones and Gracey were extradited to the United States to face federal charges in the Southern District of Florida.