U.S. Coast Guard vs. Richard J. Tietge

In the complaint served against Richard J. Tietge, the Coast Guard initiated an administrative proceeding seeking suspension of his Merchant Mariner’s Document. The settlement agreement identifies the underlying court matter as Kitsap County Superior Court case #06-00286-3 and describes it as a Class C felony conviction for possession of depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct under RCW 9.68A.070.

The settlement papers state that Tietge entered the agreement solely to resolve the matter and did not admit liability for the claims in the complaint. They state that he admitted the jurisdictional allegations, but neither admitted nor denied the factual allegations. Tietge waived hearing and appeal rights.

On July 13, 2006, Administrative Law Judge Peter A. Fitzpatrick approved the settlement agreement. The settlement required a mitigated suspension-and-revocation penalty: a minimum of 12 months outright suspension of Tietge’s Merchant Mariner’s Document beginning March 24, 2006, followed by additional outright suspension time if needed to fully satisfy community-custody and rehabilitation conditions imposed by the court. The agreement required Tietge to deposit his MMD with Sector Seattle Investigations, not work in a capacity requiring an MMD during the deposit period, sign releases for probation and other records, advise Sector Seattle of address or telephone changes, and submit evidence of successful completion. If he failed to satisfy the conditions by July 1, 2008, the agreement provided that his document would be revoked; if he successfully completed the conditions, the document would be returned and the record would show an outright suspension for at least one year from March 24, 2006 plus any additional time required by the agreement.

A December 10, 2007 Notice of Completion of Settlement Agreement states that Tietge supplied evidence of successful performance of training, the Coast Guard accepted that evidence, and his credential had been returned. The notice states that his credential-suspension period was from March 24, 2006 until December 10, 2007, when he completed the prescribed training and his license was returned.