Wardey
Founding Member
TAMPA - A Lutz man who led authorities on a high-speed boat chase in January is scheduled to plead guilty this morning to federal charges of ramming a Coast Guard chase boat.
Mark Koert, 27, is scheduled to enter his plea before U.S. District Magistrate Thomas B. McCoun III. He signed a plea agreement with prosecutors last month.
Koert is accused of stealing a 28-foot Maxum powerboat from a Harbour Island dock Jan. 26 as Gasparilla festivities were winding down. Authorities noticed the boat running at a high speed without lights in Tampa Bay.
A Coast Guard boat was patrolling near Davis Islands when the crew heard a call for assistance. The boat intercepted the vessel, according to the plea agreement. The crew pulled aside and ordered the pilot to pull over. but Koert ignored the order.
Instead, Koert admits to sharply turning toward the chase boat and trying to ram it.
The Coast Guardsmen fired two shotgun rounds into the Maxum's engine area. Koert responded by ramming his pursuers, putting his boat into the chase boat, landing on its port bow.
The guardsmen fired more rounds, but Koert, according to the plea agreement, was able to reverse his direction and break the two boats apart. He eventually ran aground in shallow water near the Platt Street Bridge.
Koert is to plead guilty to charges of forcibly assaulting federal officers with a deadly weapon, criminal damage to government property and failure to obey an order to heave to. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 35 years if sentenced consecutively.
In exchange of waiving being indicted by a grand jury and pleading guilty, prosecutors have agreed to recommend Koert receive a sentence at the lower end of the federal sentencing guidelines.
Mark Koert, 27, is scheduled to enter his plea before U.S. District Magistrate Thomas B. McCoun III. He signed a plea agreement with prosecutors last month.
Koert is accused of stealing a 28-foot Maxum powerboat from a Harbour Island dock Jan. 26 as Gasparilla festivities were winding down. Authorities noticed the boat running at a high speed without lights in Tampa Bay.
A Coast Guard boat was patrolling near Davis Islands when the crew heard a call for assistance. The boat intercepted the vessel, according to the plea agreement. The crew pulled aside and ordered the pilot to pull over. but Koert ignored the order.
Instead, Koert admits to sharply turning toward the chase boat and trying to ram it.
The Coast Guardsmen fired two shotgun rounds into the Maxum's engine area. Koert responded by ramming his pursuers, putting his boat into the chase boat, landing on its port bow.
The guardsmen fired more rounds, but Koert, according to the plea agreement, was able to reverse his direction and break the two boats apart. He eventually ran aground in shallow water near the Platt Street Bridge.
Koert is to plead guilty to charges of forcibly assaulting federal officers with a deadly weapon, criminal damage to government property and failure to obey an order to heave to. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 35 years if sentenced consecutively.
In exchange of waiving being indicted by a grand jury and pleading guilty, prosecutors have agreed to recommend Koert receive a sentence at the lower end of the federal sentencing guidelines.
