U.S.C.G. Licensed Captain Charged With Rape & Convicted of Sexual Battery Given 7 Month Suspension of License & Allowed to Continue Sailing after Negotiating Deal With U.S.C.G. From Prison.

Apr 21

Written By JR

By: Ryan Melogy

According to documents obtained by Maritime Legal Aid & Advocacy (MLAA) from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) via the Freedom of Information Act, a USCG-licensed ship captain charged with rape and convicted of sexual battery later entered into a Settlement Agreement with the USCG in which he was given a 7 month suspension of his license, and afterwards allowed to resume commanding vessels under the authority of his USCG issued license (USCG Enforcement Activity #4064202).

This extraordinarily lenient Settlement Agreement is consistent with a very disturbing and dangerous policy of the USCG that allows convicted sex predators to sit in the captains’ chairs of U.S. flag vessels following their conviction in state and federal courts for sex crimes committed ashore.

As MLAA has previously reported, in 2016 the USCG signed a Settlement Agreement with a USCG licensed captain convicted of sexual battery in Virginia that resulted in only a one month suspension of the mariner’s license.

In the present case, the captain was charged with the crime of “simple rape” in Louisiana’s 32nd Judicial District Court, and later entered into a plea bargain with Louisiana prosecutors in which he pled guilty to the lesser crime of “sexual battery,” on May 16, 2011.

The USCG licensed captain and convicted sex predator was sentenced to “1 year of hard labor with the Louisiana Department of Corrections” following his conviction.

Incredibly, after the captain was charged with rape and before he entered a guilty plea, the USCG National Maritime Center approved his request for a renewal of his license and Merchant Mariner Credential because, according to the enforcement report, “At the time of application, SNM had an outstanding charge of Simple Rape...Because SNM had not yet been convicted, NMC issued the requested MMC.”

While the captain was serving his hard time in a Louisiana prison, he began negotiating a settlement agreement with the USCG regarding his conviction for sexual battery. During the Suspension & Revocation (S&R) process, the convicted sex predator was even allowed to submit “telephonic testimony” in his S&R case from the jail where he was serving his prison sentence for a sex crime.

Upon his release from jail, the USCG licensed captain finalized his USCG Settlement Agreement and began serving his suspension.

On February 13, 2013 the U.S. Coast Guard returned the captain’s license and merchant mariner credentials to the convicted sex predator after successful completion of his 7 month suspension.

The End.

U.S.C.G. Licensed Captain Charged With Rape & Convicted of Sexual Battery Given 7 Month Suspension of License & Allowed to Continue Sailing after Negotiating Deal With U.S.C.G. From Prison.

USCG Licensed Merchant Marine Officer Convicted of Molesting His Daughter Given Only a Letter of Warning in Deal with U.S. Coast Guard; No Suspension or Revocation of License & Name Kept Secret.

MARAD FOIA Request #2: MLAA Seeks All Documents Related to USMMA’s Referral Of Shipboard Sexual Assault Allegations to American President Lines for “Administrative Handling.”