BOSTON (AP) – Federal prosecutors on Thursday charged a 20-year-old Fairhaven man with twice making false distress calls to the Coast Guard claiming he was aboard a sinking fishing boat.

The calls led the Coast Guard to launch search and rescue missions at a total cost of $82,000, U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan’s office said.

Brian Feener, 20, of Fairhaven, was charged in an indictment with two counts of communicating a false distress message and two counts of making a false statement.

The indictment alleges Feener made radio calls using an emergency frequency from his home on July 10, 2004, and Sept. 24, 2004.

In the first instance, the caller claimed to be captain of a boat that was taking on water near the entrance to Buzzards Bay, west of Cape Cod.

A Coast Guard jet, two helicopters and three patrol boats were sent on a futile eight-hour search costing $58,000. Authorities determined the caller had given a false name for a vessel that didn’t exist.

In the second case, a caller claimed to be the captain of a New Bedford-based vessel that does exist, and on which Feener had once been a crew member, prosecutors said. The boat had actually been in port at the time of the call.

The caller claimed the vessel was sinking 20 miles south of Nantucket. A three-hour search involved a helicopter, costing $24,000.

Feener could not be reached for comment. No phone listing could be found for him in the Fairhaven area.