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Eight More Merchant Mariners Charged in Test-Score Fixing Scheme

GCaptain
Total Views: 3432
November 23, 2021

Eight additional current and former merchant mariners have been indicted related to a test score-fixing scheme at a United States Coast Guard exam center in Louisiana.

U.S Attorney Duane A. Evans announced the latest indictment on November 18, 2021.

The defendants are each charged with obtaining, and intending to use, officer-level licenses that were procured through falsified exam scores. The fraudulent scores were for examinations designed to test the mariners’ knowledge and training to safely operate under the authority of those licenses.

The allegations stem from an investigation that resulted in a previous indictment charging former Coast Guard credentialing specialist Dorothy Smith with accepting bribes in exchange for entering false passing examination scores. According to original indictment against Smith and others, Smith used a “network of intermediaries” to take bribes to enter false test scores that the defendants were required to pass in order to obtain various officer-level licenses, such as master, chief mate, and chief engineer.

Twenty-eight current and former mariners were charged in that earlier indictment and have all pled guilty. Smith and two other former-Coast Guard employees are awaiting trial in that case.

Individuals named in this latest indictment are: RANSFORD ACKAH, NATHANIEL DOMINICK, ODELL GRIGGS, DEVIN HEBERT, RAYNEL LEWIS, ADRIAN MACK, MAURICE PALMER, and DERRICK WARD.

If convicted, each defendant in this indictment faces a sentence of up to five years’ imprisonment, up to a $250,000.00 fine, up to three years of supervised release, and a mandatory $100.00 special assessment fee.

U.S Attorney Evans reiterated that the indictment is merely a charge and that the defendants’ guilt must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case is being investigated by the Coast Guard Investigative Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Chandra Menon is in charge of the prosecution.

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