Federal Law Enforcement News

The Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) has named Assistant Chief Melanie Montroll as Chief of its Harbor Police Department (HPD), following a rigorous national search that included a number of highly qualified candidates. She is a 21-year veteran of the force and will serve as the department’s first woman Chief of Police. Montroll succeeds Chief Robert Hecker, who will retire after having led HPD for more than 26 years.“The Port, our tenants and the region rely on our strong, ethical, and professional Harbor Police Department,” said Brandy D. Christian, Port NOLA President and CEO.

The owner and operator will pay a total criminal fine of $3,000,000.00.U.S. Attorney Gretchen Shappert for the District of the Virgin Islands announced that IONIAN SHIPPING & TRADING CORP., LILY SHIPPING LTD., STAMATIOS ALEKIDIS, ATHANASIOS PITTAS and REY ESPULGAR have been convicted and sentenced for various pollution, recordkeeping, and obstruction of justice crimes on the Motor Tanker (“M/T”) Ocean Princess in St. Croix, U.S.V.I. The defendants’ conduct included using fuel that exceeded the maximum allowable sulfur concentration in the U.S. Caribbean Emission Control Area (“U.S.

Federal officials in Philadelphia seized more than 15,000 kilos of cocaine with a street value of more than $1 billion at the Philadelphia Port, making it the largest seizure ever for the eastern district of Pennsylvania area and one of the biggest in U.S. history.According to various media report, quoting law enforcement officials, more than 15,500 kilos of cocaine were found in seven containers, which were found aboard a cargo ship, the MSC Gayane, that previously stopped in Colombia, Chile, Panama and the Bahamas.A press release from the MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company said that it is aware of reports of an incident at the Port of Philadelphia in which U.S. authorities made a seizure of illicit cargo.MSC noted it has a longstanding history of cooperating with U.S.

A Japanese shipping company will have to pay $1 million after being convicted and sentenced for obstruction of justice and falsification of an Oil Record Book to cover-up intentional pollution from bulk carrier M/V Atlantic Oasis.The company Nitta Kisen Kaisha Ltd., owner and operater of the Atlantic Oasis, admitted that its engineers failed to document the illegal discharge of oily wastes from the vessel’s fuel and lubrication oil purifier systems, as well as discharges of oily bilge waste from the bilge holding tank and from the vessel’s bilges when delivering steel products to Wilmington, N.C. in 2017.During a U.S. Coast Guard inspection of the vessel on May 17…

The U.S. Coast Guard offloaded $13.3 million worth of suspected heroin and cocaine and transferred custody of two suspected smugglers to authorities in San Juan Tuesday, following a recent interdiction in the Caribbean Sea off Puerto Rico.The crew of a patrolling Customs and Border Protection Caribbean Air and Marine Branch (CAMB) maritime patrol aircraft initially detected a 30-foot go-fast vessel Saturday afternoon transiting with two people onboard and visible packages on deck south of Patillas…

The Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD) has taken delivery of a new patrol boat from Louisiana-based boatbuilder Metal Shark. The new 35-foot Defiant welded aluminum pilothouse patrol vessel, built at Metal Shark’s Jeanerette, La. production facility, joins the fleet of 36-foot Metal Shark Fearless-class high performance center console patrol boats delivered to the PRPD a year ago. The PRPD’s new patrol boat features a fully-enclosed, climate-controlled pilothouse for all weather operation, outfitted with Shockwave shock-mitigating seating for a crew of four, the builder said.

Wood Group PSN Inc., a Nevada corporation headquartered in Houston, was ordered to pay $9.5 million in two separate cases involving its conduct in the Gulf of Mexico. Specifically, Wood Group PSN was ordered to pay $7 million for falsely reporting over several years that personnel had performed safety inspections on offshore facilities in the Gulf of Mexico in the Western District of Louisiana, and $1.8 million for negligently discharging oil into the Gulf of Mexico in violation of the Clean Water Act after an explosion on an offshore facility in the Eastern District of Louisiana, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeff Wood of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana Stephanie A. Finley, and U.S.

Crewmembers of Coast Guard Station Miami Beach, Florida, offloaded 254 kilograms of cocaine and 3,662 pounds of marijuana interdicted in the Caribbean Sea as part of Operation  Martillo worth an estimated wholesale value of $11.8 million, at Base Miami Beach, Friday. On Sept. 3, a maritime patrol aircraft reported a suspicious Panamanian flagged sailing vessel southeast of Nicaragua. Coast Guard Cutter Robert Yered arrived on scene and attempted to contact the vessel. With no response to radio calls, and the vessel not slowing down, the Robert Yered launched its smallboat with a law enforcement team and subsequently boarded the vessel after receiving permission from the Panamanian government.

The Port of Long Beach’s Security Division has been awarded $3.4 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants to fund ongoing projects that protect the port. The grants will enhance port security systems such as physical security equipment and monitoring and detection systems, including the Virtual Port System, and improve the resiliency of port security systems, the port said. “Protecting workers and the community, as well as ensuring business continuity, are top priorities at the Port of Long Beach,” said Lori Ann Guzmán, President of the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners. FEMA, which is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security…

A U.S. federal jury has begun its deliberations on whether a former BP Plc  executive lied about how much oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico following the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig in April 2010. Prosecutors and a lawyer for defendant David Rainey made their closing arguments to the jury on Friday morning in a case brought by the government over statements Rainey made to agents from the FBI and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) nearly a year after the spill. Rainey, BP's former vice president of exploration in the Gulf, faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison if found guilty of willfully making a fraudulent statement to federal law enforcement agents. The April 20, 2010, explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig led to 11 deaths and the largest U.S.

The Coast Guard says it repatriated 19 Haitian migrants from an intediction in the Mona Passage, including a pair of migrants who had to be rescued after they were thrown into the sea by the people-smugglers. A group of 19 migrants was detected by a Coast Guard aircraft west of Mona Island, Puerto Rico. Coast Guard Sector San Juan diverted the Coast Guard Cutter Key Largo to interdict the migrant vessel and informed federal law enforcement partner agencies. Upon the cutter Key Largo’s arrival on scene, the smugglers, in an attempt to flee the area and avoid interdiction, allegedly threatened the migrants onboard and forced two Haitians, including a minor, overboard without life jackets. The crew of the Key Largo saved the two Haitians and continued to pursue the suspect vessel.

Numerous local, state and federal law enforcement and emergency management agencies will be participating in a full-scale force protection exercise at Coast Guard Training Center Cape May, N.J. Tuesday, April 29, 2014, from 9:30-11 a.m. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, this exercise will better prepare its crews and interagency partners in the community to prevent or respond to a terrorist attack at Training Center Cape May. This will be the first full-scale, antiterrorism exercise aboard a Coast Guard training center. uscgnews.com

Texas Marine Unit Uses Yellowfin-built Shallow Water Vessels for Border Patrol missions. Menaced by Mexican drug cartels, the Texas Department of Public Safety operates a fleet of six shallow-water vessels it commissioned in late 2011 and 2012 to patrol its borders. The agency purchased the boats from Bradenton, Florida-based manufacturer Yellowfin Yachts as threats along the Rio Grande escalated. Yellowfin custom builds its 34-foot fishing boats for military and police purposes…

Kurt Mix, a former engineer for BP plc, was convicted today of intentionally destroying evidence requested by federal criminal authorities investigating the April 20, 2010, Deepwater Horizon disaster. Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge Michael J. Anderson of the FBI’s New Orleans Division made the announcement after the verdict was announced by U.S. District Judge Stanwood R. Duval Jr. Mix, 52…

Tom Ridge, President and CEO of Ridge Global, an international provider of security and risk management services, today announced that Thomas Betro, former Director of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), and VP at NTT DATA, has joined as an advisor. Betro will work closely with Ridge Global’s Flag Bridge strategic maritime team to help guide the expansion of a global maritime criminal investigation service. “We are fortunate to have a seasoned maritime law enforcement professional like Tom Betro on our team,” said Gov. Ridge.

Somali nationals Ahmed Muse Salad, a/k/a “Afmagalo,” 25, Abukar Osman Beyle, 20, and Shani Nurani Shiekh Abrar, 29, who were previously found guilty by jury of all 26 counts charged to include piracy, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, hostage taking resulting in death, kidnapping resulting in death and multiple firearms offenses, were sentenced today by a federal jury. The three defendants were sentenced to life-in-prison for their roles in the February 22, 2011 murder of four Americans aboard the sailing vessel Quest.

DC Federal Court plea agreement requires Singapore-based Pacific International Lines, to pay US$2.2-million. The offenses relate to the operation of the company's container shilp M/V Southern Lily 2 in June 2012. The company previously pleaded guilty to three felony charges that it made false statements to the U.S. Coast Guard and violated the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships by concealing illegal waste water operations and discharges in a falsified oil record book – a required…

At a briefing held Wednesday at the Port of Houston Authority, U.S. McCaul chose the port as the site to host the briefing on security and emergency preparedness to illustrate the importance of the Port of Houston to the nation's economy and energy security. The Port of Houston is home to the largest petrochemical manufacturing complex in the United States and second largest in the world. McCaul met with Port of Houston Authority officials as well as Houston, Harris County and…

The U.S. Coast Guard will transfer a decommissioned 378-foot High Endurance Cutter to the Philippines at 1 p.m. May 22 at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Pier Papa in North Charleston, S.C. The former Coast Guard Cutter Dallas will be transferred in a ceremony presided over by Rear Adm. John Korn, assistant commandant for Acquisition. “Since 1967, Coast Guard Cutter Dallas has served the American people well, from Vietnam and the Pacific to its final Coast Guard patrol in the Mediterranean, where the crew interdicted 4,000 pounds of cocaine and 940 pounds of marijuana,” said Korn.

Former BP Engineer Arrested for Obstruction of Justice in Connection with the Deepwater Horizon Criminal Investigation; First Criminal Charges to Result from the Deepwater Horizon Task Force Investigation. Kurt Mix, a former engineer for BP plc, was arrested today on charges of intentionally destroying evidence requested by federal criminal authorities investigating the April 20, 2010, Deepwater Horizon disaster, announced Attorney General Eric Holder, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S.

Fluoramics Inc. has developed a revolutionary, rust-inhibiting lubricant that is solvent free, non-aerosol based, and odor free. Frank Reick, the inventor of HinderRUST has many credits to his product portfolio. He is the original developer of Tufoil, which holds the title of “The World’s Most Efficient Lubricant” by the Guinness Book of World Records. In addition, while working with the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Brunswick, Georgia, he developed a product called Gun-Coat, which protects guns from corrosion.

December marked the 10th anniversary of the U.S. Coast Guard’s formal entry into the national intelligence community, although many had long perceived the Coast Guard as a de facto member. The Coast Guard began its long involvement with the work of intelligence in 1790. Tariffs imposed on goods imported to the United States, in order to raise revenue, caused lawless merchants to unload their cargoes at isolated locations to avoid paying the tariffs at customs houses in ports.

Fluoramics Inc. has developed a revolutionary, rust-inhibiting lubricant that is solvent free, non-aerosol based, and odor free. Frank Reick, the inventor of HinderRUST has many credits to his product portfolio. He is the original developer of Tufoil, which holds the title of “The World’s Most Efficient Lubricant” by the Guinness Book of World Records. In addition, while working with the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Brunswick, Georgia, he developed a product called Gun-Coat, which protects guns from corrosion.