Florida Teens Charged With Felonies After Dumping Garbage Into the Ocean Leaving Boca Bash

The boat was named Halcyon. The clip was not. On April 28, 2024, a drone from Wavy Boats filmed partygoers on a triple-engine fishing boat emptying two overflowing trash cans into the Atlantic as they left Boca Bash through the Boca Raton Inlet. Plastic, cups, bags — over the side. Nobody on the boat stopped them. The video did the rest.

Rodrigo Samsing told WSVN he was disgusted. “They could have simply placed a bag in the garbage can, filled it, and thrown it away.” Event pages called the dumping “completely unacceptable” and said the boating community would help identify the boat. Florida Fish and Wildlife took the lead with the Palm Beach County State Attorney. A staff biologist said the trash was a hazard to wildlife. That upgraded the case from a litter ticket to a third-degree felony: causing pollution so as to harm human health, welfare, or aquatic life — up to five years and $50,000.

FWC identified the dumpers as juveniles: Charles Ruth, 15, of Gulf Stream, and Michael Kirby, 16, of Boynton Beach. Officers used the boat’s registration and went to the 15-year-old’s father. “This is not a representation of who we are,” the father said. Both teens turned themselves in on May 3, 2024. FWC Chairman Rodney Barreto called it a teaching moment and wanted long community-service hours on the water they had just used as a dumpster. One family issued a public apology. The State Attorney’s Office later went quiet on the charging file. Boca Bash itself is unsanctioned by the city and still draws an estimated 6,000 to 10,000 boats every last Sunday in April. FWC logged roughly 16 to 20 other arrests that weekend for BUI and drugs.

The same week, Tybee Island was counting 54 arrests at Orange Crush. The AEGIS Alliance covered that Georgia beach brawl and the later permit that tried to civilize it. For more, see Environment and Crime News.