Cosco-Oceania

A man told a Coast Guard investigator he just wanted to visit his pregnant wife in South Korea after he was caught stowing away on a cargo ship leaving the Port of Oakland, according to a federal criminal complaint filed Tuesday. Andreas Guenther allegedly rowed an inflatable raft he bought at a sporting goods store across the bay and boarded the M/V Cosco Oceania at Berth 58, climbed a rope ladder and got on board the ship, according to an affidavit submitted by Coast Guard investigator Brian DuBois that is attached to a federal criminal complaint. If convicted, Guenther could spend five years in prison. A U.S. attorney in San Francisco assigned to the case declined to comment on the Sept. 21 incident. A spokeswoman for the office did not immediately return phone calls or emails. After the ship got underway, crew members found Guenther, and the ship stopped and anchored in the bay, according to the affidavit. The U.S. Coast Guard then came and took him off, according to the affidavit. A team of Coast Guard investigators interviewed Guenther, who told them he bought a visitor pass for the ship from a man in San Francisco's Chinatown for $500. http://www.insidebayarea.com/breaking-news/ci_27111200/oakland-feds-charge-man-who-sneaked-board-cargo