Ex-Master Pleads Guilty to Sexually Assaulting USMMA Cadet During Sea Year
A former master in the U.S. merchant marine pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court in New York on Wednesday, July 15, seven years after he assaulted two cadets from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy working aboard the bulker he was commanding. While there had been multiple reports of officers sexually assaulting cadets, lawyers said it was the first time in a generation that the Justice Department had pressed charges.
Captain John Merrone, age 53, had surrendered his license to the U.S. Coast Guard in 2022 during a disciplinary investigation into the 2019 incident, but the Justice Department had initially refused to pursue criminal charges. The cadet, who was only identified publicly as Jane Doe, had filed a legal complaint in 2021, although she had told family members and sought medical attention after the 2019 rape. She remains active in the merchant marine.
“The defendant today admitted abusing his authority as a ship captain to carry out a heinous sexual assault on a young woman, who was under his supervision, as she embarked on a career as a mariner,” stated United States Attorney Joseph Nocella, Jr. According to the reports, the plea came after a jury had been selected and the case was due to begin trial. The charges had been brought against Merrone in June 2025.
According to the court filings, two USMMA female cadets had been assigned to the bulker Liberty Glory and joined the vessel in August 2019 for a trip from Bahrain to Texas. The court filing said that then Captain Merrone had begun contacting the cadets through social media a month before they joined the vessel.
A month into the trip, on September 9, 2019, Merrone invited the two female cadets to his cabin for a drink of “soda.” He poured alcohol from an open bottle for the two women and a drink for himself from a different, sealed bottle. The women both reported they had quickly “lost recollection of the remainder of the evening.” The next day they awoke in their cabins feeling nauseous and with a headache. One of the cadets reported she awoke without her pants and underwear and felt pain.
Merrone spoke with one of the cadets, and she said he told her they had “fun” and “things had progressed.” He reportedly asked her “to do it again.” She told him she did not recall what had happened, and it was not consensual. Reports said Merrone later offered her money. The other cadet did not file charges.
In court on Wednesday, Merrone pleaded guilty to all five counts, including aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse, and abusive sexual contact relating to the rape of the then 21-year-old cadet. The sentencing is scheduled for December 2026, with the U.S. attorney’s office saying he faces up to life in prison. Associated Press, however, reports the recommendations to the judge based on federal sentencing guidelines are for 15 to 19 years in jail. Merrone admitted he knowingly gave the cadet an intoxicant without her knowledge or consent, and he had sex with her while she was incapacitated. He is currently free on bail.
This case was one of several that came to light and rocked the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and its Sea Year program. It was not the first time there had been issues with the program, including its suspension between 2016 and 2017. The Sea Year program was again suspended in 2021 for further review based on the multiple reports of assault.
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Lawyers had called the federal charges filed against Merrone a “watershed moment in U.S. justice.” Too frequently, the officers surrender their licenses before the U.S. Coast Guard can make a ruling in its actions, and the Justice Department, citing the challenges of the allegations made when a ship is at sea, has declined to file charges.
The U.S. attorney’s office thanked the U.S. Coast Guard for its investigative work in this case. The New York office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also assisted in the investigation and case.
