USMMA’s First Female Superintendent Sends Cadets to Ship With Captain Mark Stinziano, Who Had License Suspended Last Year for Repeatedly Assaulting a USMMA Deck Cadet

New York, NY

By: MLAA

Less than a year after Captain Mark Stinziano’s Merchant Mariner Credential (MMC) was suspended by a U.S. Coast Guard Administrative Law Judge following an official finding he had committed at least three counts of “assault and battery” against a U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) deck cadet, the USMMA has resumed sending cadets to ships to serve under Stinziano during their “Sea Year” training aboard commercial vessels.

The latest ship where new USMMA Superintendent Joanna Nunan sent USMMA cadets to be supervised by Stinziano was the M/V Green Lake, operated by SEACOR Holdings of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The M/V Green Lake participates in the U.S. Maritime Administration’s “Maritime Security Program (MSP),” and SEACOR receives a direct subsidy of more than $5 million per year for operation of the vessel through the MSP program. 

MLAA has confirmed from multiple sources with direct knowledge of the situation that Stinziano was recently supervising USMMA cadets aboard the M/V Green Lake. The USMMA, or any other governmental entity investigating this matter, would be able to easily find proof by asking the USMMA Department of Shipboard Training for Shipboard Performance Evaluation forms submitted to the USMMA by deck cadets who recently served aboard the M/V Green Lake. The USMMA or others could also call SEACOR or the MMP labor union and ask them to confirm that Stinziano was aboard the vessel supervising cadets.

As of late March 2023, Stinziano and SEACOR were searching for a qualified Chief Mate to relieve Stinziano aboard the vessel.

Regarding Stinziano’s previous treatement of at least one USMMA deck cadet, according to the findings of fact contained in U.S. Coast Guard leader Admiral Linda Fagan’s January 6, 2023 Commandant’s Decision on Appeal (CDOA) in U.S. Coast Guard vs. Stinziano, the ALJ Court and the Commandant established as fact that, 

“from November 2014 through March 2015, "Deck Cadet,” a male midshipman from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, was assigned to and working aboard the MAERSK IDAHO as a deck cadet. Between December 7, 2014, and March 10, 2015, on several occasions, Respondent [Stinziano], with his hand, touched Deck Cadet's buttocks, through clothing, without his permission…on two occasions, Respondent [Stinziano] approached Deck Cadet from behind and simulated performing a sex act by contacting Deck Cadet's buttocks, through clothing, with other crew members present and without Deck Cadet's permission…Respondent [Stinziano] drew genitalia on Deck Cadet's hardhat and required him to wear it in front of the crew…Respondent [Stinziano] placed a pen in Respondent's buttocks and then held out the pen to Deck Cadet to indicate that it now smelled like Respondent's buttocks…Respondent directed Deck Cadet to use nicknames when they spoke over the radio, wherein Deck Cadet was "butter cake" and Respondent was "daddy”...Respondent pretended to make a joke by threatening to punch Deck Cadet in the genitals…”

Despite these disturbing findings of sexual assaults committed against a USMMA cadet, U.S. Maritime Administration leader Ann Phillips and USMMA leader Joanna Nunan have declared that Captain Stinziano is approved to supervise USMMA and state maritime academy cadets in accordance with MARAD’s new Every Mariner Builds a Respectful Culture (EMBARC) rules.

Although MARAD has declared Stinziano EMBARC-approved, Maersk has banned Stinziano from working aboard their company’s vessels. Following the Coast Guard court’s finding that Stinziano had repeatedly assaulted and battered a USMMA deck cadet aboard the M/V Maersk Idaho, Maersk Line, Limited announced they were firing Stinziano in August of 2022, just days before Stinziano was due to reclaim his license and return to work for Maersk. 

On March 23, 2023 ShippingWatch published a story titled, “Case of fired Maersk captain will return to court at US Coast Guard,” which details the ongoing legal saga of U.S. Coast Guard vs. Stinziano and the Coast Guard legal system’s struggle to determine whether grabbing someone’s buttocks without their permission, or grabbing someone from behind and simulating a sex act on their buttocks are “sexual assaults” or merely “assaults” without a sexual component, as the now-retired ALJ Michael Devine determined.

In response to inquiries from ShippingWatch for their March 23, 2023 story, Maersk Line, Limited said, “Maersk Line, Limited has no further business with Stinziano and he will not return to work at Maersk Line, Limited under any circumstances.”

However, Stinziano maintains an active U.S. Coast Guard issued MMC and Master’s license, is EMBARC-approved, and remains a senior member in good standing of the Masters, Mates & Pilots  (MMP) labor union. Stinziano obtained the job as Chief Mate aboard the M/V Green Lake through the MMP union’s rotational hiring hall system.

Congress has previously demanded answers from MARAD and the USMMA regarding their policies towards sending cadets to ships with known sexual predators. On October 12, 2021–two weeks after Hope Hicks published her now famous blog post on the MLAA whistleblower platform–Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), in her capacity as Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, sent a letter to acting Maritime Administrator Lucinda Lessley specifically requesting a response related to information that had been posted on the MLAA website as well as responses to policy questions, including the USMMA’s policies towards sending students to ships with known sexual predators.

In that October 12, 2021 letter, Cantwell asked the Acting Maritime Administrator, “If a vessel or its parent company is the subject of a sexual assault or sexual harassment complaint, does the USMMA assign midshipmen to those vessels in the future? Please include copies of the USMMA policy, regulation or other guidance on this matter.”

MLAA eventually filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against MARAD in order to obtain MARAD’s responses to Senator Cantwell’s letter. In the records obtained by MLAA via the lawsuit against MARAD, in response to Cantwell’s question MARAD told her (page 7 of the linked document):

“USMMA does not assign midshipmen to vessels when it is aware that a crewmember has been the subject of a sexual assault or sexual harassment allegation, unless that crewmember has been cleared by an investigation. The Academy is in the process of memorializing its practice into a written policy in order to ensure that the policy is followed consistently and that the Academy has the requisite information from the commercial shipping companies to protect its midshipmen at sea.”

MARAD sent that letter and that answer to Senator Cantwell on December 1, 2021–more than one year ago. If MARAD or the USMMA are not aware they are assigning their students to vessels where Captain Stinziano is working, it is only because of an intentional and fake ignorance, and because of a legal fiction created by MARAD lawyers and relied upon by USMMA and MARAD leaders to protect themselves, and to absolve themselves from any responsibility for intentionally sending their students out to serve under known predators, and operating what MLAA has described as “a revolving door of rape.”