A fed­eral judge in Florida sen­tenced a man who drunk­enly released the anchor of a mov­ing cruise ship to four months of incar­cer­a­tion. Rick Ehlert of Cal­i­for­nia was sen­tenced to two months in a fed­eral prison fol­lowed by two months of home con­fine­ment and three years of pro­ba­tion. Pros­e­cu­tors said Ehlert had been drink­ing and had taken a pre­scrip­tion Ambien sleep­ing pill early Novem­ber 27, 2010, when he went into a restricted area on the MS Ryn­dam, a Hol­land Amer­ica cruise ship, and released the 18-ton anchor while the boat was trav­el­ing between Tampa and Mex­ico. Ehlert was also ordered to pay a $7,500 fine and par­tic­i­pate in sub­stance abuse and mental-health counseling.

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