Mother of one of two Florida teens lost at sea two years ago criticizes other family, mulls lawsuit
BY DAVID BOROFF
The mother of one of two Florida teens lost at sea lashed out at the mom of the second boater and is mulling a lawsuit after investigators found evidence of child neglect.
Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen, both 14, disappeared during a storm off Florida's Atlantic coast in July 2015, and their capsized boat was found months later in the Bahamas.
The state opened a criminal investigation in December of Austin's mother for possible child neglect. Investigators found probable cause to charge Carly Black, but the state attorney said there was not enough proof "to satisfy the statutory language," the Palm Beach Post reported last week.
According to investigators, Black allowed the teens to "go offshore into the Atlantic Ocean, an inherently dangerous environment, in a minimally equipped 19-foot boat with a single outboard motor without adult or parental supervision," and without a radio or an emergency beacon that could have been used to find them.
Perry's parents said their son was not allowed to go offshore without adult supervision, and both families knew this, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement report obtained by the Palm Beach Post.
Pamela Cohen, Perry's mother, is now considering a lawsuit against the other family, her lawyer told the newspaper.
"It is irrefutable that both Austin’s parents knew that Perry was not supposed to go out of the inlet unsupervised," Guy Rubin told the Palm Beach Post.