Two Ocean Hope engineers receive jail sentences

The chief and second engineers of the Top Ship cargo vessel were sentenced Thursday to jail for their role in obstructing a U.S. Coast Guard inspection in July 2015 on board the ship in North Carolina’s Port of Wilmington.    Two engineers who served on board Top Ship’s cargo vessel Ocean Hope were sentenced Thursday to prison for their role in obstructing a U.S. Coast Guard inspection in July 2015 on board the ship in North Carolina’s Port of Wilmington.
   The sentences were handed down to Cassius Samson and Rustico Ignacio by U.S. District Judge Malcolm Howard of the Eastern District of North Carolina.
   In addition to the 12 months in jail, Samson must serve a year of supervised release. Igancio, who received a prison sentence of nine months, also faces a year of supervised release.
   Ignacio was the chief engineer and Samson was the second engineer of the Ocean Hope. In September 2016, a federal jury in Greenville, N.C. convicted them both of conspiracy, violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, obstruction of justice and witness tampering.
   “The evidence showed that Ignacio and Samson attempted to cover up the dumping of tons of oil sludge and machinery space bilge water into the ocean before the ship arrived in the United States. In addition, defendant Samson committed perjury at trial,” the Justice Department said.
   Several lower-level engineering crewmen testified at trial that Samson regularly ordered, with Ignacio’s knowledge and approval, the pumping of oily wastes into the ocean over a period of months. On at least two occasions, Samson ordered the connection of a bypass hose, or “magic pipe,” to pump tons of thick sludge directly overboard, the department explained.
   “When the vessel arrived at the Port of Wilmington, the engineers ordered subordinates to lie to Coast Guard inspectors and to cover up evidence,” the Justice Department said. “Chief Engineer Ignacio presented inspectors with a doctored oil record book, in which false accountings of the ship’s production and disposal of oily wastes were recorded.”
   Also convicted at trial were Oceanic Illsabe Ltd., owner of the Ocean Hope, and Oceanfleet Shipping Ltd., its managing operator. Both shipping companies are based in Greece. Sentencing of the corporate defendants is scheduled for early January 2017, the Justice Department said.