Captain Charged with Raping 1st Engineer Aboard USNS Carson City Surrenders License to Avoid Facing Accuser in Federal Court—Is Fired by Military Sealift Command
Military Sealift Commander Philip Sobek
In written submissions to Military Sealift Command, Captain Yamil Sanchez Padilla admitted to sexual intercourse with 1st Assistant Engineer Elsie Dominguez on the night she says he raped her—but the former Captain said it was consensual.
March 26, 2026
By: Maritime Legal Aid
Yamil Sanchez Padilla—the Military Sealift Command captain accused by the United States Coast Guard of sexually assaulting a subordinate officer aboard the USNS Carson City—avoided a federal administrative hearing by voluntarily surrendering his merchant mariner credential, according to records obtained by Maritime Legal Aid. The voluntary surrender ended the Coast Guard’s administrative Suspension & Revocation proceeding before Captain Sanchez Padilla would have been required to face his accuser at a hearing in front of a U.S. Coast Guard Administrative Law Judge.
At roughly the same time, Military Sealift Command fired Sanchez Padilla. In that process, his attorney acknowledged in writing that Sanchez Padilla had engaged in sexual intercourse with 1st Assistant Engineer Elsie Dominguez on the night she alleges he raped her. Sanchez’s response to MSC did not deny that the encounter occurred, but characterized it as consensual and attributed it to mutual intoxication. MSC’s decision ended Sanchez Padilla’s career after 18 years of service with MSC.
Taken together, the records show that five separate federal processes have addressed the case: criminal, civil, workers’ compensation, Coast Guard credentialing, and internal military employment proceedings. Along the way, each process has applied its own standards and reached its own endpoint.
As Maritime Legal Aid previously reported, Dominguez has said that she awoke in her stateroom aboard the Carson City on December 19, 2021, to find Sanchez Padilla sexually assaulting her after a night in Brindisi, Italy, during which she had become severely intoxicated and required assistance returning to the vessel. She has also said that she believes she may have been drugged. According to investigative records reviewed by Maritime Legal Aid, Sanchez Padilla later apologized to Dominguez via WhatsApp after she accused him of sexually assaulting her.
In February 2025 the U.S. Coast Guard filed an administrative complaint under its Suspension and Revocation process alleging that Sanchez Padilla had engaged in a sexual act with Dominguez while she was incapable of consenting. Under federal maritime law, such a finding would require revocation of his credential. The case was set to proceed before a Coast Guard administrative law judge.
It did not reach that stage. Within fifteen days of being served, Sanchez Padilla signed a voluntary surrender agreement stating that he was relinquishing his credential “in preference to appearing at a hearing … to answer allegations against me.”
The Coast Guard accepted the voluntary surrender and withdrew the complaint against Sanchez Padilla from its docket. The case was closed less than a month after it was filed, without testimony, evidentiary submissions, or findings of fact. The surrender document contains no admission of wrongdoing, and Sanchez Padilla has denied the Coast Guard’s allegations.
Federal regulations allow a mariner facing Suspension and Revocation charges to surrender a credential instead of contesting the allegations. When that happens, the Coast Guard closes the case without issuing findings on the merits.
While the Coast Guard proceeding was pending, Military Sealift Command conducted its own internal administrative review. On February 6, 2025, MSC issued a Notice of Proposed Removal charging Sanchez Padilla with “conduct unbecoming a federal employee.” The notice alleged that he had engaged in a sexual relationship with Dominguez aboard the ship, including an encounter “on or about 19 December 2021” when she was “severely intoxicated.”
MSC’s notice to Sanchez Padilla also cited his communications with Dominguez, including WhatsApp messages sent on the night in question. In the civil lawsuit Dominguez filed against the Navy, Dominguez alleged that early in the morning of December 19, 2021, “after calling Ms. Dominguez at least 14 times, texting her that he wanted to spend the night with her, and then calling her “a weak person,” the Captain returned to the vessel and used his MSC-issued master code to enter Ms. Dominguez’s stateroom where she was asleep and incapacitated.”
Sanchez Padilla, through counsel, responded in writing to MSC’s notice. According to MSC’s decision, Sanchez Padilla acknowledged sexual intercourse with Dominguez on December 19, 2021, and admitted sending the messages cited in the notice. Sanchez Padilla’s response did not dispute that the encounter occurred on the night in question. Instead, it characterized the conduct as consensual and attributed it to alcohol consumption.
The MSC decision summarized Sanchez’s response as follows:
“In your written reply… you admit… that you sent the text messages referenced in the proposal letter… You further admit that you had sexual intercourse with 1 A/E Dominguez on December 19, 2021, onboard the ship, while both you and she were ‘affected temporarily with diminished physical and mental control’ due to alcohol consumption.”
Sanchez Padilla requested that he be retained in federal service in a reduced role of Chief Mate, also known as First Officer. As the decision recounts, he “submit[ted] that a demotion to the position of First Officer (1/O) is a more appropriate penalty,” asserting that he would “never engage again in such a relationship.”
MSC rejected that request. In its March 8, 2025 decision, the agency concluded that Sanchez Padilla had fostered an “inappropriately intimate relationship” with Dominguez and had engaged in sexual intercourse with her aboard the vessel when she was “severely intoxicated.” The decision emphasized that, as Master, Sanchez Padilla held “the highest-ranking supervisory position on the ship” and was “in a position of trust and authority,” and found that his conduct was incompatible with those responsibilities.
Addressing the requested demotion directly, MSC wrote that it did “not agree” that reassignment to First Officer was appropriate, explaining that the position “is also a high-ranking position of leadership onboard the ship,” and concluding that removal from federal service was warranted.
Dominguez, who remains employed within the Military Sealift Command, said in a statement that the outcome brought a measure of relief, even as the broader process left critical questions unresolved.
“I’m relieved that he was removed from command and that I no longer have to live in fear of encountering him again within my workplace,” she said. “I’m also relieved that he no longer holds a license and cannot continue working in the industry or put others at risk.”
At the same time, she said the resolution left her without the opportunity to confront him in a formal proceeding.
“I wanted the chance to face him in a Coast Guard hearing or in a criminal trial and have the facts heard and decided,” she said. “That never happened.”
The criminal investigation preceded the filing of the Coast Guard’s administrative complaint against the Captain, and followed its own course. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service opened an inquiry in June 2023 and, over the course of more than a year, collected statements, communications, and other evidence. The matter was presented to federal prosecutors, who declined to bring charges in August 2024.
Dominguez also sought relief through the civil justice system. In November 2023, she filed a civil action against the United States Navy. In June 2024, a federal judge dismissed the case, holding that her claims fell within the Federal Employees Compensation Act, which governs workplace injuries for federal employees. That ruling directed the matter into the Department of Labor’s administrative compensation system rather than a civil trial. Her FECA claim remains pending.
Dominguez is represented by maritime attorney Ryan Melogy of Justice4Mariners, a maritime personal injury and abuse law firm. Melogy, who has represented numerous survivors in maritime sexual assault and harassment cases, said the resolution reflects a broader pattern.
“This is becoming a recognizable pattern,” Melogy said. “From the perspective of the accused mariner, the voluntary surrender in sexual assault cases is often the rational decision. Once the Department of Justice declines criminal prosecution, proceeding through a Coast Guard hearing can create major risk. Testimony and evidence developed in that process can potentially be used to re-expose the mariner to criminal liability.”
At the same time, he said, the outcome can be deeply unsatisfying for some survivors.
“It means there is no hearing, no testimony, and no formal findings on the record,” Melogy said. “The mariner is effectively out of the industry, but the underlying allegation is never adjudicated.”
Captain Sanchez Padilla now joins a list a of mariners who have voluntarily surrendered their credentials after being charged in high profile sexual assault cases, including Edgar Sison who was charged with sexual assault in the Midshipman-X case, and Captain John Merrone who also voluntarily surrendered his Coast Guard credential before being criminally charged by the U.S. Department of Justice. Merrone’s landmark criminal trial is pending.
Across the five federal processes that addressed the case, different institutions answered different questions. Prosecutors declined criminal charges. A federal court directed the claims into the workers’ compensation system. The Coast Guard initiated a credential case but did not reach a hearing. Military Sealift Command removed Sanchez Padilla from command and terminated his employment. The Department of Labor is now considering Dominguez’s eligibility for compensation for her emotional injuries.
What none of those processes produced is a public adjudication of the central question: whether the sexual encounter was consensual. According to the agency’s record, Sanchez Padilla no longer denied that sexual intercourse occurred on the night in question, but more than four years after the events aboard the USNS Carson City, no federal proceeding has produced a public determination resolving Dominguez’s allegation.
“I went through every process available to me,” Dominguez said. “I hope it at least leads to some change and that the system works better for the next person.”