Irvine Firm’s Yacht Released in Drug Seizure

MIAMI — The $2.5-million yacht Ark Royal, seized under the tough new “zero tolerance” policy when the Coast Guard found a tiny amount of marijuana aboard, was released Tuesday after payment of a small fine.

The 133-foot boat owned by Tomima Corp. of Irvine left the Key West Customs dock Tuesday afternoon, said Miami’s Customs Service spokesman Michael Sheehan.

The seizure had been angrily criticized by boat owners and civil libertarians, who said the penalty does not fit the crime.

Michael J. Rogerson of Newport Beach, president of Tomima, paid a $1,000 fine and $600 in seizure fees Tuesday and agreed not to file suit against the government, Sheehan said.

“The owner of the vessel petitioned the Customs Service, stating that he, as the owner, was not on board, that the crew had evidently gone through some type of drug screening, and that they in fact did not smoke or drink,” Sheehan said.

The owner’s petition also noted that no one was arrested for possession of the marijuana, Sheehan said.

“Both the corporation and myself strongly support government efforts at halting drug trafficking,” said Rogerson, 44, in a statement issued to the press. “But the seizure of this vessel for the apparent individual actions of a crew member, against the stated policy of the corporation, and (searching) the vessel for minute traces makes no sense. This type (of) action presents an unreasonable danger to all boat owners for the isolated actions of passengers and crew.”

The Coast Guard had boarded the boat Saturday and found less than a teaspoonful of marijuana, 10 seeds and two stems weighing a fraction of an ounce in a dresser drawer and a trash can.

The yacht was then seized under a federal law allowing any vessel carrying drugs to be confiscated.

The Ark Royal was being moved from San Diego to the Mediterranean for charter duty when it was stopped in the Yucatan Channel--between the west end of Cuba and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, 260 miles southwest of Key West--for a routine Coast Guard documents check, the crew and Coast Guard said.

After consultations between the Customs Service and Treasury Department in Washington, the government agreed to levy a fine and release the vessel, Sheehan said.

The law had been used only for boats carrying large drug shipments, but under the new “zero tolerance” policy, the Coast Guard has said it will confiscate boats carrying even recreational amounts of drugs.

Earlier Thursday, Transportation Secretary James Burnley, who administers the Coast Guard, defended the seizure and promised to continue enforcement of the law.

“If we find any illegal drugs on a vessel, we’re going to seize a vessel, we’re going to turn it over to Customs and we’re going to let them make the final determination on whether the boat should be returned to the owner or sold at auction,” Burnley said on ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America.”

But he noted that no one would lose a boat without a hearing.

That policy upset civil libertarians, who said the punishment would precede the trial.

“What’s wrong with it is the same thing that’s wrong with shooting someone or hanging someone, and then saying, ‘We’re going to give you a trial to see if you’re guilty,’ ” said James Powell, national legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union.