Man gets prison for diver’s drowning death off Catalina Island

A San Pedro man has been sentenced to four years in prison for endangering a diver who died last year when his breathing equipment got tangled in kelp off Catalina Island.

Craig Lightner was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty in July to involuntary manslaughter in the death of 47-year-old Mark Rascon, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

The men had been trying to illegally catch the blue-banded Goby fish while diving on July 27, 2013. They were using air hoses and “unsafe” breathing regulators, but Lightner didn’t teach Rascon how to properly use the equipment, prosecutor Carol Rose said in a statement.

And when Rascon’s breathing equipment became tangled in kelp, Lightner called the U.S. Coast Guard to report a missing diver instead of rendering aid, Rose said.

Rescuers found Rascon’s body 80 feet down.

Coroner’s officials determined Rascon suffered an embolism during the dive, which led to his drowning, according the district attorney’s office.

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