Day After CNN Publishes Expose on Coast Guard Failures and Names the Midshipman-X Rapist, the Agency Brings Suspension & Revocation Charges Against the Accused Mariner’s License

New York, NY

By: MLAA

According to a new CNN Report, the US Coast Guard has filed administrative Suspension & Revocation (S&R) charges against mariner Edgar Sison, who was accused of rape by former U.S. Merchant Marine Academy student Hope Hicks in 2021. The Coast Guard's S&R complaint alleges that Sison violated company policy by "possessing and consuming" alcohol aboard the M/V Alliance Fairfax during the alleged incident. According to CNN, in the complaint, the agency seeks to suspend Sison's Coast Guard-issued Merchant Mariner Credential (MMC) for one year.

The report of the complaint comes as Coast Guard officials await a decision from the U.S. Department of Justice in the Middle District of Florida on possible criminal charges related to the alleged rape. The DOJ has been evaluating the case for more than one year without reaching a decision.

The Coast Guard's failure to take action against Sison, even going so far as to renew his MMC while he was under investigation, was recently exposed by CNN, along with the agency's long history of leniency and inconsistency with sanctions for mariners found to have committed sexual offenses.

The CNN investigation found that over the past decade, the Coast Guard hadn't revoked a single credential for shipboard sexual misconduct, while mariners who have failed drug tests after using marijuana and even CBD oil have been stripped of their ability to work on ships. More than 25 mariners who held credentials after being convicted of sex crimes, including rape, sexual battery, sexual assault, and child molestation, were also discovered by CNN reporters.

CNN also found that in the past 30 years, there had not been a single criminal prosecution of an American mariner for shipboard sexual assault resulting from an investigation conducted by the Coast Guard.

Hope Hicks told CNN she was relieved something is finally being done, but that it should have happened long before the latest CNN report. She told CNN,

“I’m frustrated that any survivor would have to go on CNN and tell the world about the worst thing that ever happened to them in order to get the Coast Guard to take action against their assailant. It shouldn’t be that difficult.”

Hicks also expressed concerns about the Coast Guard's Administrative Law court, saying recent decisions on sexual misconduct cases are extremely troubling, and she does not have a lot of confidence the court would do the right thing in her case either.

Sison's union, the Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association, told CNN that labor laws have kept the union from temporarily suspending Sison's membership without any information or action from the Coast Guard. The union's president Adam Vokac told CNN that he would need to see the complaint to determine whether it would suspend Sison's membership while charges are pending against him.