A former fishing boat captain is facing up to six years in prison for deliberately dumping oily slops into the Pacific Ocean.
A jury in Seattle convicted Randall Fox on Thursday of violating the federal Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.
He also faces a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced.
“The Department of Justice will continue to work with our partners like the U.S. Coast Guard to aggressively prosecute criminals that pollute the oceans,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeff Wood said Thursday.
Fox was captain of the Native Sun. He was found guilty of discharging an oily mix called bilge slops straight into the Pacific without properly treating the waste with government-approved pollution prevention equipment.
A Native Sun crewmember videotaped Fox dumping waste and turned the tape over to prosecutors.
The Justice Department says Fox’s father, who had also been a captain of the Native Sun, was also convicted of a pollution-related crime last year.
