Magic Pipe: Engineers to Serve Jail Time

Cassius Samson, 52, and Rustico Ignacio, 66, both of the Philippines, were sentenced to serve jail time on Wednesday for obstructing a U.S. Coast Guard inspection.

Samson was sentenced to a term of 12 months in prison followed by a year of supervised release and Ignacio to a term of nine months followed by a year of supervised release.

The inspection took place in July 2015 onboard the general cargo ship Ocean Hope at the Port of Wilmington, North Carolina. Ignacio was the chief engineer and Samson the second engineer.

In September 2016, both were convicted of conspiracy, violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, obstruction of justice and witness tampering, by a federal jury in Greenville, North Carolina. 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, Samson committed perjury at trial.

Several lower-level engineering crewmembers 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. Coast Guard inspectors and laboratory testing confirmed the presence of heavy oils in overboard discharge piping.

When the vessel arrived at the Port of Wilmington, the engineers ordered subordinates to lie to Coast Guard inspectors and to cover up evidence. 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 Limited, the owner of the Ocean Hope, and Oceanfleet Shipping Limited, its managing operator. Both shipping companies are based out of Greece. Sentencing of the corporate defendants is scheduled for early January 2017.