A Federal Jury found Ronald Cook, a Canadian citizen, guilty of illegally dumping trash bags full of asbestos into the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere. He had been hired to lead a crew performing demolition on an old ferry boat, the Muskegan Clipper, as it sailed from San Diego, California, through the Panama Canal to Mobile, Alabama. The ship was eventually to be transformed into a riverboat gambling casino. In order to save time and costs, the crew bagged up the demolition debris, including plastic garbage bags full of asbestos, and threw it overboard into the Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and Carribean Sea at the direction of Cook. Dissenting crew members photographed the others as they threw the asbestos and trash into the sea.