Ronald J Tenpas News

B.Navi Ship Management Services (B.Navi) was sentenced to pay $1.5m and serve three years probation in connection with the illegal dumping of oily sludge, bilge wastes, and oil-contaminated ballast water from the M/V Windsor Castle, a 27,000 gross-ton bulk carrier vessel, Ronald J. Tenpas, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Captain William Diehl, Commander of U.S. Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston announced. Engine room operations onboard large ocean-going vessels such as the M/V Windsor Castle generate large amounts of waste oil. International and law prohibit the discharge of waste oil without treatment by an Oil Water Separator.

Italian shipping company B. Navi Ship Management Services and Chief Engineer Dushko Babukchiev pleaded guilty in connection with the illegal dumping of oily sludge, bilge wastes and oil contaminated ballast water from one of the company’s ships, the M/V Windsor Castle, a 27,000 gross-ton bulk carrier vessel, Assistant Attorney General Ronald J. Tenpas, U.S. Attorney Donald J. DeGabrielle Jr., and U.S. Coast Guard Captain James E. Tunstall announced. B. Navi Ship Management Services pleaded guilty on Feb. 7, 2008, to a two-count criminal information charging it with violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and making materially false statements to the U.S. Coast Guard. Chief Engineer Babukchiev pleaded guilty on Feb.

Repeat offender, Ionia Management, a Greek company that manages a fleet of tanker vessels, was sentenced in New Haven, Conn., for its role in falsifying records to conceal the overboard dumping of waste oil from the M/T Kriton into international waters and its efforts to impede the investigation of the U.S. Coast Guard, announced Ronald J. Tenpas, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, Kevin J. O’Connor, U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Rear Admiral Tim Sullivan, Commander of the First Coast Guard District, U.S. Coast Guard. U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton for the District of Connecticut fined Ionia Management $4.9 million and appointed a Special Master to oversee the company’s record keeping.

Mark Humphries, the chief engineer of the M/V Tanabata, an American-flagged car-carrier ship based in Baltimore, was convicted by a jury on one count of conspiracy and two counts of making false statements, announced Ronald J. Tenpas, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and Rod J. Rosenstein, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland. At trial, it was proven that the M/V Tanabata had a removable bypass pipe or “magic pipe” that was used to discharge oily waste without the use of an oily-water separator, a required pollution control devise. The discharges were, however, falsely recorded as having been processed through the separator in the ship’s oil record book, a required log regularly inspected by the U.S.

Patrick K. Brown, a former Chief Engineer of the M/V Fidelio was arraigned today on a six count indictment related to deliberate vessel pollution that was originally returned by a federal grand jury on July 26, 2007. The indictment was announced by Ronald J. Tenpas, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment & Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. According to the indictment, Brown was a U.S. licensed Chief Engineer and was responsible for managing and supervising the engine department, including compliance with laws regulating the discharge of oil from the ship.

David G. Williams, a Chief Warrant Officer in the U.S. Coast Guard and the Main Propulsion Assistant for the Coast Guard Cutter RUSH, was indicted by a federal grand jury for obstructing the investigation into his authorization of the direct overboard discharge of bilge wastes through the deep sink into the Honolulu Harbor, announced Ronald J. Tenpas, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment & Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney for the District of Hawaii Edward H. Kubo Jr. Williams was charged with two counts: one count of obstruction of justice and one count of making a false statement. As the Main Propulsion Assistant…