BOSTON — The man who hammered and stabbed his way through a scalloping boat like a Hollywood slasher movie in the high seas off of Nantucket, leaving one crew member dead, is scheduled to spend nearly the next 20 years in prison.
U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs sentenced Franklin Freddy Meave Vazquez, 31, to 235 months in prison — which is 19 years and seven months — at his sentencing hearing Thursday in federal court in Boston. Meave Vazquez pleaded guilty on March 9 to one count of murder in the second degree, one count of attempted murder and one count of assault with a dangerous weapon.
The ruling included three years of supervised release, but Meave Vazquez is a Mexican national in the U.S. illegally and will be subject to deportation proceedings when he’s out of prison.
The Coast Guard’s thoughts “are with each of the families, nothing can replace their loved ones,” said Rear Adm. John Mauger, commander of the First Coast Guard District.
The Virginia-based fishing vessel Captain Billy Haver sailed with a seven-member crew, including Meave Vazquez, the morning of Sept. 23, 2018. It sailed more than 50 miles off of the coast of Massachusetts, which is outside any one state’s jurisdiction.
By that afternoon, the boat was the scene of a “senseless and horrific” murder, in the words of Joseph Bonavolonta, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston branch.
One crew member lay dead on the deck, according to a Coast Guard affidavit, from multiple stab wounds. Two other crew members were injured by hammer blows.
“This was a horrific act of workplace violence,” U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins wrote in a statement. “Today’s sentence, although it cannot erase the trauma and pain caused to the families of the murder victim and the survivors of the brutal attack, I hope it brings some accountability.”
