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Judge Spares Engineer In Oil Dumping Scheme
by Melissa Bailey | Dec 4, 2007 8:00 am
Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author
Posted to: Arts
Eight months in Connecticut were punishment enough for a white-haired Greek sailor who squandered his one last romance with the sea by colluding in scheme to dump oil overboard.
Petros Renieris, chief engineer on the M/T Kriton, has been landlocked in Connecticut ever since March, when his ship was halted in New Haven Harbor by a whistleblower’s cry. The Greek sailor pleaded guilty in September to fudging oil records in order to cover up the dumping of waste oil into international waters.
“I love the sea,” Renieris told Judge Janet Bond Arterton as he stood awaiting his sentence in New Haven U.S. Distict Court. After pleading guilty to one count of violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, he faced up to six years in jail and a $250,000 fine.
After hearing the sailor’s plea for freedom, Arterton spared him prison, laying down a sentence of two years’ probation and a $9,000 fine. Ionia Management, the Greek company that owns and operates the M/T Kriton, faces a fine of up to $9 million after being convicted by a New Haven jury on all 18 counts related to the oil-dumping scheme.
The government’s case centered on the testimony of three Filipino crew members who blew the whistle on their superiors. The company is due to be sentenced on Dec. 13.
Retirement Voyage
Through a translator, Renieris told the judge that the voyage on the M/T Kriton was to be his last — he had returned from retirement one last time to work up enough money so he could buy a retirement home for his family in Greece. When the ship got detained by the American government, he was forced to stay in New Haven in a Holiday Inn. He didn’t speak English. He couldn’t work. He could move freely, but he couldn’t drive a car or leave the state.
Renieris was shut off from his three loves — his family, his country and the sea.
As a result, his blood pressure rocketed up and his heart grew weak, according to his attorney, Carl Woodward. Woodward argued that for a man who showed remorse and had an otherwise impeccable, 34-year career, those eight months in Connecticut were punishment enough.
Even government prosecutors declined to recommend prison time for the white-haired sailor. Sentencing guidelines brought the defendant’s range down to zero to six months in prison and a fine of $1,000 to $10,000.
A Lesson In Loving The Sea
Before sending the sailor back to his homeland, Arterton weighed in on the severity of the crime.
Far out on the sea, where government is not even a speck on the horizon, the chief engineer is the sole person responsible for making sure the crew keeps oily waste from polluting waters, Arterton said. When 95 percent of U.S. imports arrive by sea, upholding the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships is paramount to environmental cleanliness. Sailors have “got to take the law seriously,” said the judge.
In pleading guilty, Renieris admitted to obstructing a U.S. Coast Guard probe by hacking apart a “magic hose” through which oil had been illegally leaked. Renieris “turned a blind eye” to suspicious entries in oil record books concealed illegal dumping, even though he knew the company had been convicted of such a cover-up before, charged Arterton (pictured).
Renieris may have loved the sea, but he “failed to recognize that loving the sea means not dumping” in it, said Arterton.
That said, Arterton laid down the sentence — two years’ probation — to the delight of Renieris’ teary-eyed wife, who had flown into the U.S. to live with her husband a few months ago. The judge ordered $9,000 fee, which she said should be manageable for the engineer, who testified to making 9,000 euros per month while on the job.
Under the terms of probation, Renieris must check in periodically with a U.S. probation officer, alerting the U.S. when he makes credit card payments of over $200 or opens a new credit card. If he returns to America in the next two years, he must alert the Coast Guard.
Surrounded by Greek words of celebration and a series of pats on the cheek, Renieris left the courtroom with his wife, ready to sail on home to retirement.
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