A former cargo ship captain pleaded responsible on Wednesday to drugging and raping a 21-year-old U.S. Service provider Marine Academy cadet who was engaged on the vessel as a part of the academy’s Sea 12 months coaching program.
John Merrone, 53, pleaded responsible simply as his trial was about to start out in Brooklyn federal court docket. He admitted that he had sexual activity with the cadet with out her consent “on the ship, in the course of the ocean” after knocking her out with an intoxicant in 2019.
A jury had been picked and the girl, recognized solely as Jane Doe, was within the courthouse ready to testify. Prosecutors had been additionally planning to name as witnesses a number of different girls who’ve accused Merrone of sexual assaults over the past three many years.
The Related Press typically doesn’t title individuals who say they’ve been sexually assaulted, until they comply with be recognized.
Merrone was beforehand convicted of false imprisonment and battery after a Florida Keys waitress accused him of getting intercourse along with her towards her will, however an appeals court docket overturned the decision and prosecutors did not retry the case.
Ex-cadet says ‘It’s over’ after a six-year look forward to justice
The previous cadet, who nonetheless works within the maritime trade, watched by tears from the courtroom gallery as Merrone impassively mentioned “responsible” to every of 5 fees, together with aggravated sexual abuse and abusive sexual contact.
Her lawyer, Ryan Melogy, mentioned she turned to him afterward and mentioned, “It is over.”
“Intercourse crimes are notoriously troublesome to prosecute on the whole,” Melogy mentioned. “Once they happen in the course of the ocean aboard a ship, the extent of issue concerned in prosecuting them in all probability will increase exponentially.”
Merrone faces as much as life in jail, however Assistant U.S. Lawyer Kayla Bensing mentioned federal sentencing tips name for about 15 to 19 years behind bars. Merrone’s legal professionals mentioned they suppose that estimate is simply too excessive. The rules are advisory and the decide, Ramon E. Reyes Jr., may sentence him to kind of time.
Merrone will stay free on bail till sentencing, which is scheduled for Dec. 22. He and his legal professionals, Bruce Barket and Nicole Aloise, declined to remark as they left court docket.
A message in search of remark was left for the U.S. Service provider Marine Academy.
“It’s my hope that as we speak’s responsible plea will give the survivor of this assault some measure of closure understanding that the defendant has been held accountable for his despicable conduct,” U.S. Lawyer Joseph Nocella Jr. mentioned in a press release.
Captain raped cadet after inviting her to his room for ‘soda’
In line with prosecutors, Merrone started sending the cadet and one other scholar Fb messages just a few weeks earlier than they boarded his ship, the 623-foot-long (190-meter-long) Liberty Glory, for a voyage from Bahrain to Corpus Christi, Texas.
On Sept. 9, 2019, after greater than a month onboard and with a bit greater than every week left within the journey, prosecutors mentioned Merrone messaged the cadet and her pal asking that they arrive to his room for a “soda.”
“Captain you recognize I avoid soda !” the cadet wrote.
“U might like my soda!?!?” Merrone replied.
The ladies acquiesced, prosecutors mentioned, and the captain poured them every a drink from an already open bottle of alcohol, then opened a brand new bottle and poured a drink for himself.
Quickly after having a few of the drinks, the ladies “misplaced recollection of the rest of the night,” prosecutors mentioned.
The cadet awoke the subsequent morning in her mattress sporting solely a shirt and bra however not pants or underwear, feeling nauseous; she had a headache and felt vaginal discomfort, prosecutors mentioned. Her pal awoke with abdomen cramping and a debilitating headache, prosecutors mentioned. She didn’t accuse Merrone of sexual assault.
Merrone known as the cadet to his room and informed her he had “enjoyable final night time,” that “one factor led to a different” and requested her to do it once more, prosecutors mentioned. After the cadet informed him she did not keep in mind what occurred and that the encounter was not consensual, Merrone provided her cash, which she declined, prosecutors mentioned.
Merrone later despatched the cadet {a photograph} of herself holding cash on what she believed to be from the night time of the assault, together with a message: “lol. That how u make a girl completely satisfied!!!!” She did not recall the photograph being taken, prosecutors mentioned.
After that, prosecutors mentioned, the captain went to the cadet’s room and pulled from his pocket the underwear she had been sporting the night time of the assault.
Sea 12 months program has been suffering from sexual abuse considerations
The U.S. Service provider Marine Academy, in Kings Level, New York, trains college students to work within the industrial delivery trade. It has an enrollment of about 1,000 college students. It’s one in all 5 navy service academies, and the one one beneath the U.S. Division of Transportation.
In 2016, the academy quickly shut down the Sea 12 months program, which sends cadets to work on container ships, oil tankers, passenger liners and different vessels, amid sexual abuse and bullying considerations. This system resumed in 2017 on vessels operated by three corporations that the academy mentioned had carried out new preventive insurance policies.
The academy suspended the Sea 12 months program once more in 2021 after one other cadet mentioned a cargo ship supervisor obtained her drunk and raped her. It resumed after extra security protocols had been put in place.
If you happen to or somebody you recognize is a sufferer of sexual assault, free, confidential assist is accessible by the Nationwide Sexual Violence Assets Heart and the Nationwide Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-4673.
