Coast Guard Criminal Investigative Service News

Singapore Ship Operator and Engineers Plead Guilty to Crimes Related to Pollution from Cargo Ship Traveling to Mobile, Alabama; Company Sentenced to Pay $1.2 Million Criminal Penalty. A ship management company headquartered in Singapore pleaded guilty and was sentenced today in federal court in Mobile for deliberately falsifying records to conceal pollution discharges from the ship directly into the sea. Target Ship Management Pte. Ltd., the operator of the M/V Gaurav Prem, pleaded…

DRD Towing Company, LLC., a marine company located in Harvey, Louisiana, was sentenced in federal court by U. S. District Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle to two years probation for violation of Ports and Waterways Safety Act and a misdemeanor violation of the Clean Water Act and a $200,000 fine, announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten. In addition, Randall Dantin, age 46, a resident of Marrero, Louisiana and co-owner of DRD Towing, was sentenced to twenty-one months imprisonment in a separate charge of obstruction of justice. Dantin was also ordered to pay a $50,000 fine and serve two years supervised release during which time he will be under federal supervision and risks additional imprisonment should he violate any terms of the release.

A Louisiana ship-operating company was sentenced in U.S. District Court in New Orleans on charges related to the illegal discharge of oil into the oceans, the Justice Department announced. Offshore Vessels LLC (OSV) was sentenced to pay a criminal fine of $1,750,000 and remit a payment of $350,000 as community service to the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. The community service funds are to be used to study polar water pollution and protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems in the Antarctic region. OSV also will serve a period of probation for three years, during which it will be required to operate under an Environmental Compliance Plan.

DRD Towing Company, LLC., a marine company located in Harvey, La., pled guilty in federal court on Sept. 8 before U.S. District Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle to a felony violation of Ports and Waterways Safety Act and a misdemeanor violation of the Clean Water Act, announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten. In addition, Randall Dantin, age 46, a resident of Marrero, La. and co-owner of DRD Towing also pled guilty to a separate charge of obstruction of justice. According to the court documents, DRD Towing Company, LLC. pled guilty to creating hazardous conditions by (1) assigning employees without proper Coast Guard licenses to operate certain vessels…

The maximum statutory penalty Millien faces is five (5) years incarceration, a $250,000 fine, not more than three years of supervised release and a $100 special assessment. Millien was indicted by a federal grand jury on March 28, 2008 and is scheduled to be sentenced on January 21, 2009. This case was investigated by Special Agents of the United States Coast Guard Criminal Investigative Service. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Edward J. Rivera and Dorothy Manning Taylor. (Source: Attorney’s Office-Eastern District of Louisiana)

A Ship Captain and Chief Engineers of two foreign flag vessels have been arrested and charged with keeping false log books to conceal the dumping of waste oil and sludge from two ships, obstructing a Coast Guard investigation, and obstruction of justice for allegedly telling crew members to lie to a federal grand jury. The arrests, supported by criminal complaints, were announced by Timothy M. Burgess, United States Attorney for Alaska and Thomas L. Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. The defendants are Doo Hyon Kim, the Captain of the M/V Khana, In Ho Kim, the Chief Engineer of the Khana, and Min Gwen Go, the Chief Engineer of the M/V Sohoh. A preliminary hearing was held today in U.S.

Je Yong Lee, Chief Engineer of the M/V Sohoh pled guilty in United States District Court to three federal felony crimes. Defendant Lee admitted to keeping and presenting a false log book that concealed the dumping of waste oil and sludge from his ship, obstructing a United States Coast Guard investigation and witness tampering for telling crew members to lie to a federal grand jury in Anchorage. The plea was announced by Timothy M. Burgess, United States Attorney for Alaska and Thomas L. Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. "Crimes against our environment, including those that take place in the waters off our coasts, will not be tolerated," said Sansonetti.

Karin J. Immergut, United States Attorney for the District of Oregon, Debra W. Yang, United States Attorney for the Central District of California, Donald P. Sims, Special Agent in Charge of the Portland Area Office, Criminal Investigation Division of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA-CID), United States Coast Guard Rear Admiral Jeffrey Garrett, Commander 13th Coast Guard District, and United States Coast Guard Captain Paul Jewell, Captain of the Port, Portland, announced today that Fujitrans Corporation, a Japanese transportation company, pled guilty to four felony charges for violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, Title 33, United States Code, Section 1908(a) and Title 33, Code of Federal Regulations, Sections 151.25(a), (d) and (h).

Jim Letten , United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Rear Adm. Robert Duncan, Commander Eighth Coast Guard District and Special Agent in Charge Donald G. Lane of the Coast Guard Criminal Investigative Service (CGIS) Gulf Region, announced the arrest of Yuriy Roshkalyov, captain of the motor vessel Leeds Castle for operating a commercial vessel under the influence of alcohol in violation of Title 46, United States Code, Section 2302. The statute, a Class A misdemeanor which is punishable with up to one (1) year imprisonment, prohibits the operation of a vessel while under the influence of alcohol. Roshkalyov was arrested and removed from the vessel on April 17, 2006.

A Japanese shipping company admitted that it intentionally failed to maintain required records concerning overboard discharges of oil sludge and oil-contaminated bilge water from one of its cargo ships, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Department of Justice, Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency announced. MK Shipmanagement Company, Ltd. pleaded guilty to one felony count of intentionally failing to maintain an oil record book, in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, and will pay a total of $350,000 in criminal fines and community service payments. U.S. District Judge William H. Walls took the guilty plea from the corporation. Sentencing is scheduled for July 18.

Noel Abrogar, Chief Engineer of the M/V Magellan Phoenix, was sentenced to imprisonment for one year and one day, and three years of probation for falsifying records that attempted to conceal repeated overboard discharges of oil waste from the ship, the Justice Department announced today. Abrogar pleaded guilty on September 7, 2005 to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, based on his role in discharging oil sludge and oil-contaminated bilge waste directly into the ocean from the M/V Magellan Phoenix and then falsifying the ship’s records to cover up the discharges between December 2004 and March 2005. The government’s investigation began on March 25…

Chun Do Oh, Chief Engineer of the M/V Rubin Stella sentenced to twelve months plus one day in prison for presenting false entries in an Oil Record Book to the United States Coast Guard. These entries concealed the fact that he had directed the dumping of waste oil and oil sludges from this ship into the Pacific Ocean. The sentencing was announced today by John McKay, United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington and Thomas L. Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the United States Department of Justice. The M/V Rubin Stella is a Panamanian-Flagged, bulk carrier vessel of 16,789 gross tons used to transport timber.