United States v. Petraia Maritime Ltd.

489 F. Supp. 2d 90, 2007 A.M.C. 1294, 73 Fed. R. Serv. 1017, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37623, 2007 WL 1518623
District Court, D. Maine·Decided May 22, 2007·No. 2:06-cr-00091·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

ORDER ON ADMISSIBILITY OF STATEMENTS OF OFFICERS AND UNLICENSED CREWMEN OF THE DEFENDANT CORPORATION

SINGAL, Chief Judge.

Before the Court are the Government’s Motion in Limine to Admit Prior Admissions by Defendant (Docket # 57) and Defendant’s Request for Oral Argument on Motion to Admit (Docket # 74). To the extent that Defendant requested a hearing on the Government’s Motion, this Request was GRANTED and the Court held a hearing on May 10, 2007. As the Court announced from the bench at the close of this hearing, the Government’s Motion (Docket # 57) is hereby GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. This written order serves as the Court’s explanation and clarification of that oral ruling.

I. FACTS

On August 14, 2004, the MW Kent Navigator, which was owned and operated by Defendant Petraia Maritime Ltd., entered port in Portland, Maine. 1 Upon its arrival, the Kent Navigator was boarded and inspected by the United States Coast Guard. Petraia Maritime crewmembers on board at that time included, among others, a Chief Engineer, Felipe B. Areolas, a Second Engineer, Alfredo D. Lozada, and two unlicensed engineering crewmen, Edmun-do T. Buendichio and David G. Celda. 2 These four crew members of the MTV Kent Navigator were all citizens of the Philippines. Based on their findings during this routine inspection, the Coast Guard commenced a more detailed investigation into the operation and use of the Oily Water Separator (“OWS”) and the incinerator.

On August 18, 2004, the Government applied for and was issued warrants for the arrest of material witnesses Felipe Ar-eolas and Alfredo Lozada. (Def.Ex.4.) On August 19, 2004, the Government sent letters to the attorneys for Areolas and Loza-da offering use immunity in exchange for *93 Areolas and Lozada giving an “off-the-record proffer of information.” (Def. Exs. 6 and 7.) On August 20, 2004, Areolas and Lozado gave statements regarding their knowledge of the alleged violations of federal law that occurred onboard the M/V Kent Navigator in interviews with investigators for the Coast Guard and an Assistant U.S. Attorney. (Memorandum of Interview (Exs. A and B to Gov’t Mot. in Limine to Admit Prior Admissions by Defendant.)) The interviews with Areolas and Lozado were conducted in the presence of their counsel. (Id.) On August 26, 2004, Petraia Maritime entered into a Security Agreement providing terms for, and permitting, the release of the M/V Kent Navigator. (Gov’t.Ex.4.) The M/V Kent Navigator departed Portland on August 27,2004. (Gov’t.Ex.2.)

On September 3, 2004, Areolas and Lo-zado entered into an agreement with the Government to cooperate and pled guilty and, thereafter, on September 7, 2004, they each pled guilty to a one count information, which charged them with making false statements in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001. (Gov’t Exs. 15 and 16.) On September 28 and 29, 2004, Areolas and Loza-do were again interviewed by investigators for the Coast Guard and an Assistant U.S. Attorney. (Memorandum of Interview (Exs. A and B to Gov’t Mot. in Limine to Admit Prior Admissions by Defendant.)) The interviews with Areolas and Lozado were conducted with in the presence of their counsel. (Id.) On October 6, 2004, Areolas and Lozado testified before the Grand Jury investigating Petraia Maritime. (Gov’t Exs. 11 and 12.) On January 13, 2005, Areolas and Lozado were both sentenced to two years probation. Included in their probationary terms was the condition that “[u]pon request by the Government that the defendant return to the United States for any purpose related to the further investigation related to the defendant’s conduct, the defendant shall in a timely manner return to the United States as arranged by the Government.” (Judgment in a Criminal Case (Docket # 12), 04-100-P-H; Judgment in a Criminal Case (Docket # 12), 04-101-P-H.) After sentencing, Areolas and Lozado returned to the Philippines.

With respect to the unlicensed engineering crewmen, on August 24, 2004, the Government sent letters to the attorneys for Buendichio and Celda offering use and derivative use immunity in exchange for Buendichio and Celda agreeing to “cooperate fully with law enforcement agents and government attorneys.” (Def. Exs. 10 and 11.) Later that day, Buendichio and Celda gave statements regarding their knowledge of the alleged violations of federal law that occurred onboard the M/V Kent Navigator in interviews with investigators for the Coast Guard and an Assistant U.S. Attorney. (Memorandum of Interview (Exs. C and D to Gov’t Mot. in Limine to Admit Prior Admissions by Defendant.)) The interviews with Buendichio and Celda were conducted with the assistance of in-terpretators and in the presence of their counsel. (Id.) The next day — August 25, 2004 — Buendichio and Celda testified before the Grand Jury investigating Petraia Maritime. (Gov’t Exs. 13 and 14.) On August 26, 2004, the Government applied for and was issued warrants for the arrest of material witnesses Buendichio and Cel-da. 3 (Def.Ex.5.) Thereafter, Buendichio and Celda were formally detained on those warrants and during this time they stayed at a hotel in the Portland area. Buendi-chio and Celda were permitted to leave the District of Maine only after the engineer *94 ing officers pleaded guilty. (Gov’t Ex. 7; Def. Ex. 14 ¶ 7.) In light of Celda and Buendichio’s admissions, both Areolas and Lozada were charged with making false statements in the oil record book and during the Coast Guard inspection.

While in Portland, the engineering officers and unlicensed engineering crewmen made a number of statements at different times to the Government, which, for purposes of this motion, the Government groups into four different categories. The first category of statements were made by the declarants to the Coast Guard during the initial onboard inspection of the Defendant’s vessel on August 14, 2004 after the M/V Kent Navigator arrived in Portland. These were statements by the crew members that concerned their duties and responsibilities on board the Kent Navigator, and include the statements by Areolas, Lozada, Buendichio and Celda that the Government alleges were false, i.e. that the OWS was being used properly to discharge the ship’s bilge waste, that the OWS and the incinerator were working in such a manner that allowed them to properly dispose of the ship’s oily waste and that the crew did not engage in or use any hose to bypass the OWS.

The second category of statements were made by the declarants to the Government during the course of the Coast Guard investigation. These statements were made in the days following the initial boarding on August 14 and were made by the de-clarants to the Government. When these statements were made, the declarants had either cooperation and immunity agreements or use immunity agreements with the Government. In these statements, the declarants admit their role in bypassing the OWS, discharging oily bilge and sludge waste overboard and creating the false records.

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United States v. Petraia Maritime Ltd., 489 F. Supp. 2d 90, 2007 A.M.C. 1294, 73 Fed. R. Serv. 1017, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37623, 2007 WL 1518623 (D. Me. 2007).

489 F. Supp. 2d 90 (United States v. Petraia Maritime Ltd.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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