Hearing Date Set for Suspected Treasure Hunters

Indonesian authorities have set a court hearing date this month for an Orange County man and five other Californians detained aboard their boat for six weeks on suspicion that they entered restricted waters in search of sunken treasures, U.S. officials said Friday.

Danny Commerford, 38, a building inspector from Orange, two Los Angeles residents, three other Californians, three Australians and several Indonesian crew members have been held at the Indonesian naval base in Tanjun Pinang, Sumatra, since March 22. They are scheduled to appear in an Indonesian courtroom May 23, according to Ruth van Heuven, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Consul Affairs in Washington.

At this time, van Heuven said, it is not known what charges, if any, will be filed against the crew, who authorities suspect were searching for valuables from a Dutch ship that sank in the waters off of Sumatra more than 200 years ago.

According to van Heuven, the U.S. Embassy in Djakarta messaged the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs last week, asking officials there to do whatever is possible to expedite the case of the Americans. In response, the Indonesians sent word Tuesday that a court date had been set, she said.

Commerford and the other crew members have been allowed to contact their families and to leave the boat to buy food and supplies in the nearby town of Tanjun Pinang, van Heuven said.