Sleep deprived under qualified mate pleads guilty for ’08 Miss River spill

41-year-old John Paul Bavaret II pled guilty Jan. 19 to a felony violation of the Ports and Waterways Safety Act for his role in a 2008 Mississippi River oil spill near New Orleans.

A Coast Guard investigation revealed that the sleep-deprived apprentice mate was at the helm of the towboat Mel Oliver without the presence of a captain in the wheelhouse when the boat and the tanker barge it was pushing collided into a tanker ship. 283,000 gallons of fuel spilled from the barge which closed part of the river for six days.

Bavaret also pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation of the Clean Water Act.. His sentencing is scheduled for April 27 and faces a possible maximum sentence of six years.

Randall Dantin, co-owner of DRD Towing Company LLC which owned the tow boat, pled guilty last year on obstruction of justice for deleting electronic payroll sheets to prevent the Coast Guard from seeing them. He was sentenced Jan. 19 to 21 months in prison and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine. His company was ordered to pay a $200,000 fine for using overworked and unqualified captains.

Source: Yahoo News