Franklin “Freddy” Meave Vazquez.Photo: Newport News Police
A former fishing boat crew member pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday in connection with a brutal attack aboard a scalloping vessel that left one fellow crew member dead and two others injured.
Franklin “Freddy” Meave Vazquez, a 31-year-old Mexican national, pleaded guilty in Boston to individual counts of second-degree murder, attempted murder, and assault with a dangerous weapon, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Massachusetts.
On Sept. 23, 2018, the Virginia-based scalloping boat Captain Billy Haver was sailing about 55 miles off the coast of Nantucket in Massachusetts with seven crew members aboard when terror struck.
Crew member Meave Vazquez allegedly went on a rampage with “a hammer in one hand and a knife in the other,“the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Massachusetts said in a release at the time.
Captain Billy Haver.David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty
“One man, I don’t know if he’s dead or what. But one of the crew members went crazy, and he started hitting people in the head with a hammer. I got three men that’s injured now. One I can’t wake him up.”
Inside the shucking house on the vessel, Meave Vazquez allegedly used a hammer to strike one of the crew members known as Victim A “hard in the head into unconsciousness,” the release says.
“Meave Vazquez then walked out onto the deck and stabbed Victim B multiple times with a long fillet knife.”
Meave Vazquez then struggled with the vessel captain before climbing to the top of the rigging mast.
Meave Vazquez remained at the top of the mast until the Coast Guard arrived that night.
He was immediately taken into custody and was transferred into federal custody upon his arrival at the Boston port the next day.
He faces up to life in prison, five years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 for the charge of second-degree murder in addition to up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 for the attempted murder charge.
The assault with a dangerous weapon charge provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.
Meave Vazquez will be subject to deportation proceedings upon completion of any sentence imposed.
Meave Vazquez was indicted in Nov. 2018. That March, he was arrested again in Newport News, Virginia and charged with allegedly trying to abduct and strangle his then-20-year-old wife, according toTheVirginian-Pilot.
“He was smiling and laughing after he had just strangled his wife,” his wife’s mother, Lindsay McDannold, toldNewsweek. “He had absolutely no remorse.”
After allegedly attacking his young wife, Maeve Vazquez “and his family followed her around,” her Army-veteran father toldNewsweek.“He also threatened to kill her and my son and my wife if [my daughter] went to the cops. That’s when I got involved.”
“We had a conversation, and I told him ‘If you don’t agree to divorce her and pay for it then the outcome won’t be good for you,'” he toldNewsweek.“He didn’t want to mess with me.”
Maeve Vazquez was placed on probation for two years for the attack,Newsweekreported.
Meave Vazquez faces deportation if he is ever released. He is scheduled for sentencing on June 28, 2022.
PEOPLE was unable to reach his attorney for comment.
source: people.com
