A USMMA Cadet Said She Was “Sexually Assaulted” by the Chief Mate of M/V APL Korea & “Subjected to Pervasive Sexual Harassment.” The USCG “Safety” Office Never Even Opened an Investigation.

According to documents released to MLAA by the USCG pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, in 2017 a former USMMA student accused the Chief Mate of the APL Korea of sexually assaulting (“groping”) her and subjecting her to a pattern of pervasive sexual harassment, which included, among other things, offering her wine and money to do work for him outside of her normal work hours, frequently placing the palm of his hand on her elbow and back to ‘guide’ her through passageways, frequently whispering close to her ear when directing her at work, and on one occasion telling her “if it were up to me, women would be walking around on this ship wearing fishnet stockings and red lipstick.”

The Chief Mate was a member of the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots labor union (IOMMP).

The student recorded the disturbing pattern of behavior in her Sea Year Journal and told her parents, the USMMA Sexual Assault Response Coordinator (SARC), and a USMMA Victim Advocate about the shipboard assault and harassment she had endured aboard the M/V APL Korea.

The USMMA SARC reported the disturbing behavior to the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS), which offered to review the student’s Sea Year Journal and to interview the student.  The student gave the CGIS her Sea Year Journal which documented the sexual harassment and sexual assault, and then submitted to a video taped interview with the CGIS in which she discussed what she had endured aboard the APL Korea.  

After consulting with legal advisors, the CGIS ultimately determined that there was not sufficient evidence for a criminal referral of the sexual assault allegations.

That outcome is not shocking or even surprising.  Shipboard sexual assault allegations are notoriously difficult to prove in a criminal context.  In federal criminal cases, the burden of proving the defendant's guilt is on the prosecution, and the prosecution must establish the facts beyond a reasonable doubt.

What is shocking is that following the CGIS investigation, the U.S. Coast Guard Office of Investigations & Casualty Analysis (CG-INV), which was and is led by Captain Jason Neubauer, an infamous coverup artist and protector of sexual predators, did not even open a Suspension & Revocation investigation against a USCG credentialed Chief Mate who was credibly accused of shipboard sexual assault and harassment.

In the S&R process, the burden of proof is on the USCG to establish the allegations in a complaint by only a preponderance of the evidence, which means the USCG must establish that the allegations “are more likely than not to have occurred.”  This burden of proof is radically lower than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard of criminal proceedings.    

The alleged actions of the Chief Mate of the APL Korea, if true, clearly constituted official misconduct and would have warranted the suspension or revocation of his USCG issued merchant mariner credentials and license via the USCG’s S&R process.

But Captain Jason Neubauer decided that the allegations did not even warrant the opening of a S&R investigation, which is in keeping with his policy of protecting sexual predators in the U.S. maritime industry in order to avoid entangling the CG-INV in resource intensive sexual misconduct investigations.

This policy of denying that sexual misconduct is a plague upon the U.S. maritime industry frees Neubauer to focus all his attention on issues he considers much more important than shipboard sexual misconduct, such as his bizarre obsession with drug testing and the recreational and medical use of marijuana by mariners.  

The newly released documents prove once again that Captain Neubauer protects sexual predators in the U.S. Maritime Industry and solve a mystery surrounding a disturbing shipboard sexual assault allegation listed in the USMMA’s 2017-2018 SASH report which MLAA has previously written about.

The sexual assault allegation was listed at Table 6, Row 7 in the USMMA’s SASH report as follows:

"A midshipman was sexually assaulted by a crew member of a ship during sea year and reported it to the Academy.  The report was Unrestricted – occurred at sea; referred to U.S. Coast Guard for investigation.  No criminal prosecution. Referred to shipping company for administrative handling."

In September 2020 MLAA filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General, led by Howard “Skip” Elliot, regarding the SASH allegation listed in the USMMA SASH Report, and asked the DOT OIG to investigate why a potential felony sex crime was referred to a private shipping company for “Administrative Handling.”

In its DOT OIG complaint, MLAA explained that criminal prosecution was not the only option available to the U.S. Coast Guard in the matter.  MLAA told the DOT OIG and the USMMA that the U.S. Coast Guard also has available the "Suspension & Revocation" process for investigating and punishing mariners accused of official shipboard misconduct, and asked the DOT OIG to investigate whether or not the CG-INV, led by sex predator protecting Captain Jason Neubauer, had opened an S&R investigation following the CGIS criminal investigation.

We now know that Captain Neubauer never opened an investigation.

We also know that neither the USMMA, MARAD, or the DOT ever pressed the USCG on the matter, and never sought to have a S&R investigation opened by the USCG.

Unfortunately, none of this is surprising. It’s just business as usual.