PORTLAND, Ore. — The chief engineer of a vessel that illegally discharged oil has pleaded guilty to violating a federal anti-pollution law.
Sassine Nicolas admitted to a judge in Portland, Oregon, that he used an illegal pump system to discharge 4,500 gallons of oily bilge water off the coast of Alaska last summer.
When the 603-foot ship docked in Portland, Nicolas presented fake pollution oversight records to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The 45-year-old pleaded guilty in Alaska earlier this month to a Clean Water Act violation.
The maximum penalty would put Nicolas in prison for more than a decade. But prosecutors have recommended the Oregon and Alaska sentences run at the same time, with the Lebanese citizen spending six months behind bars.
Judge Michael Mosman scheduled sentencing for April 1.
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