A Captain who was accused of sexually assaulting two USMMA cadets has surrendered his license, as the USCG informed a local news outlet in Long Island.
More specifically, two female cadets have accused the Captain of giving them spiked drinks and then assaulting them in his stateroom aboard the bulker Liberty Glory.
After the accusation, the US Coast Guard filed an administrative action against the Captain’s license in August, accusing him of sexual assault and violating company policies on the use of alcohol.
As of now, a separate criminal investigative referral to the Justice Department remains open, and the Captain has not been charged with a crime.
Hearings for his license revocation proceeding have not started, but he voluntarily surrendered his Merchant Mariner Credential, thus becoming ineligible to sail as a master going forward.
Before these incidents, the Captain had been charged with false imprisonment, sexual battery and aggravated battery, in 2011, regarding an alleged assault in the Florida Keys.
A jury convicted the Captainof false imprisonment and two counts of simple battery, but an appeals court reversed the conviction in 2013. Then, the Captain retained his license and continued to sail as recently as this year.
Earlier this year, Maersk Line, Limited was hit with two lawsuits claiming that it failed to protect US Merchant Marine Academy midshipmen from sexual assault and harassment, according to the law firm representing two victims.
One of the victims was known as “Midshipman-X” after she anonymously shared her story about how she was raped by her superior on board a Maersk Line, Limited during her Sea Year training in 2019. The second lawsuit is the process of being refiled due to a procedural issue.
