A 52-year-old Traverse City man known for restoring one of Lake Michigan's most iconic lighthouses has been indicted on federal charges accusing him of impersonating a U.S. Coast Guard officer and illegally discharging sewage into the lake near the historic structure. Brent Alan Tompkins, the co-owner of White Shoal Light in Emmet County, allegedly used a boat marked with insignia resembling the Coast Guard's own to approach a distressed mariner, according to federal prosecutors.
U.S. Attorneys said Tompkins is accused of discharging pollutants into Lake Michigan at the lighthouse site, as reported by CBS News Detroit. He was indicted on charges including unauthorized use of a Coast Guard insignia, false impersonation of a federal officer, and discharge of a pollutant into a navigable waterway. The allegations stem from a two-year joint investigation by the Coast Guard Investigative Service and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Environmental Investigations Section, the latter acting on behalf of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.
A Lighthouse Restoration Turned Federal Case
Tompkins is well known in the region for buying White Shoal Light in 2016 with a business partner for $110,009 at a General Services Administration federal auction, then forming the White Shoal Light Historical Preservation Society to convert the offshore tower into an inn and museum, according to The Northern Express. Built in 1910 and standing 20 miles west of the Mackinac Bridge, the 11-story White Shoal Light is the tallest offshore lighthouse on the Great Lakes, distinguished by red-and-white spiral daymark stripes added in 1954. The remote crib in Gray's Reef Passage is accessible only by vessel or seaplane, which made Tompkins' years of publicized restoration work — including crane lifts and supply runs documented on social media — a local point of pride.
That restoration effort relied in part on a vintage 1957 Coast Guard utility boat that Tompkins used as a workboat to ferry equipment and supplies to the lighthouse, according to social media updates he posted documenting the project. Federal prosecutors now allege that a boat displaying insignia resembling official Coast Guard markings was used to represent Tompkins as a Coast Guard officer to a distressed mariner in Emmet County. The overlap between his publicly known restoration vessel and the boat named in the indictment has not been detailed by prosecutors, and it remains unclear whether they are one and the same.
What Prosecutors Are Saying
U.S. Attorney Timothy VerHey, who leads the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Michigan, said allegations of sewage pollution in Lake Michigan prompted immediate federal priority action given the need to protect the Great Lakes as a national resource, per the Department of Justice. “The public has a right to know when they are dealing with a properly trained public official and when they are not,” VerHey said. He added bluntly, “There is no place for impersonators and wannabes.”
Assistant Director Joshua Packer of the Coast Guard Investigative Service emphasized in an August statement that misusing Coast Guard markings and impersonating personnel creates severe safety and security risks on navigable waters. The concern reflects a core rationale behind federal impersonation law: boaters in hazardous conditions must be able to trust that someone presenting as a federal officer is genuine.
Potential Penalties Tompkins Faces
If convicted, Tompkins faces up to three years in prison, according to prosecutors. Federal law under 18 U.S.C. § 912 criminalizes false impersonation of a U.S. officer or employee, carrying a maximum statutory penalty of up to three years in prison, per the Legal Information Institute. Separately, 14 U.S.C. § 933 makes it illegal to display any ensign, pennant, or insignia intended to resemble official Coast Guard markings without authority, punishable by up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.
On the environmental charge, Tompkins faces a fine of at least $5,000 per day if convicted of violating the Clean Water Act, according to prosecutors. Under 33 U.S.C. § 1319(c)(2)(A), knowingly discharging pollutants into a navigable U.S. waterway is a felony punishable by fines ranging from $5,000 to $50,000 per day of violation and up to three years in prison for a first offense, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Part of a Broader Pattern of Private Lighthouse Ownership
Tompkins' case unfolds against a backdrop of federal lighthouse privatization that has reshaped Great Lakes waterfront history. Since Congress passed the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act in 2000, 137 lighthouses had been transferred or sold out of federal ownership by July 2018, including 58 auctioned to private buyers because of high maintenance costs, per The Northern Express. While private owners like Tompkins took over lighthouse towers themselves, the Coast Guard retained responsibility for inspecting the active top-deck lights and foghorns still in service.
The indictment against Tompkins remains an allegation at this stage, and no trial date has been announced. It marks a striking turn for a project that had drawn regional attention for years as an ambitious act of historic preservation on one of Lake Michigan's most remote structures.
