American Captain Surrenders License After Sexual Assault Accusations

A grasp mariner who was accused of sexually assaulting two USMMA cadets has surrendered his license, the U.S. Coast Guard has knowledgeable a neighborhood information outlet in Long Island. 

Two feminine cadets have accused Capt. John Merrone, a 22-year veteran of the service provider marine, of giving them spiked drinks after which assaulting them in his stateroom aboard the bulker Liberty Glory. They informed the Coast Guard that they turned incapacitated, at which level the grasp allegedly raped one and tried to assault the opposite.

The U.S. Coast Guard filed an administrative motion towards Merrone’s license in August, accusing him of sexual assault and violating firm insurance policies on the usage of alcohol. Contrary to earlier experiences, a separate prison investigative referral to the Justice Department stays open, in accordance with Long Island outlet Newsday. Merrone has not been charged with a criminal offense. 

Hearings for Merrone’s license revocation continuing haven’t but begun, however he has voluntarily surrendered his Merchant Mariner Credential, the Coast Guard informed the outlet. This resolution makes him ineligible to sail as a grasp going ahead. 

Merrone had the same encounter with legislation enforcement ten years earlier. In 2011, he was charged with false imprisonment, sexual battery and aggravated battery in reference to an alleged assault within the Florida Keys. The girl concerned within the case testified that she had been crushed and raped in Merrone’s condo. A jury convicted Merrone of false imprisonment and two counts of straightforward battery, however an appeals court docket reversed the conviction in 2013. Merrone retained his license and continued to sail as lately as this 12 months.

Merrone’s case is the second high-profile motion towards a license over sexual assault accusations this 12 months. In May, an administrative legislation decide suspended the credentials of licensed grasp Mark Steven Stinziano for 12 months. Stinziano was accused of a number of counts of sexual assault, together with abusive, non-consensual touching of a male deck cadet, in addition to molestation, crude habits and intimidation. The decide concluded that Stinziano’s actions constituted hazing, not sexual assault or molestation, and gave him a year-long license suspension as a substitute of a revocation.