hello I am new here and I sure this question had been asked before however I can not find it. but I am wondering how hard the coast guard would actually look at your sea time letter if you went to apply for your dde 4000 because I know some who has 6 months experience but will be “faking” a sea time letter and was wondering would the coast guard even look into the extra days added to the sea time letter? or do they not care and what would the consequence be if they did find out?
falsified seatime is a Federal Crime
I have know more than one seatime cheater in my days and let me say that a boot to the balls is too good for em
6 months of experience and already a disgrace to our industry. That must be a record!! My advice, find you some new friends to hang out with and cut that guy off!!
Life imprisonment with no chance of parole at Leavenworth, KS.
Honesty is the best policy. The norm is they want to see why you can’t be approved…not why you should. They go through your letters with a fine toothed comb. You get caught lyin it will bite you in the ass no doubt.
Google the name Jay Heater. I know he’s been mentioned a few times on here.
Maybe they could get away with it, but is the risk worth the reward? The fraudulent seatime would create a ticking time bomb waiting to explode for the remainder of their career. Also, tell your friend to pose this question to their self: Would I want to sail with a ship mate who fraudulently accumulates seatime? The answer should be pretty clear.
[QUOTE=spudman;153608]hello I am new here and I sure this question had been asked before however I can not find it. but I am wondering how hard the coast guard would actually look at your sea time letter if you went to apply for your dde 4000 because I know some who has 6 months experience but will be “faking” a sea time letter and was wondering would the coast guard even look into the extra days added to the sea time letter? or do they not care and what would the consequence be if they did find out?[/QUOTE]
Tell your “friend” not to do it.
The ships send a copy to the Coast Guard now. If they decide to take a look further he will be toast.
This really pisses me off…that and people who fake their educational credentials.
[QUOTE=SeaScoundrel;153639]Google the name Jay Heater. I know he’s been mentioned a few times on here.[/QUOTE]
I did just that. What a POS! It also appears as if he is looking for work as a “DP expert”.
Here’s the DOJ press release from June 15, 2011
[B]Four Seamen Charged With Conspiring to Fraudulently Obtain Merchant Mariner Credentials[/B]
HOUSTON – In a first for the district, a vessel captain, an engineer, a first engineer and an able bodied seaman and dynamic position officer have been indicted for conspiring to manufacture and submit false documents to the National Maritime Center to upgrade their certifications, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno and Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) Gulf Region Special Agent-in-Charge Damon Rodriguez announced today.
“A captain, engineer or other personnel manning a vessel who circumvent training and certification requirements presents a perilous situation for the crew of the vessel they man and to all other vessels navigating the waters in and around the United States,” said U.S. Attorney Moreno. “While the training and experience to obtain upgraded certifications is rigorous and time consuming, the process is necessary and required; as is the investigation and prosecution of those who seek to circumvent it .”
The two-count federal indictment returned under seal on June 8, 2011, was unsealed today. Philip Jeffrey Stilwell, 46, an able bodied seaman and dynamic position officer unlimited formerly employed by Surf Subsea Inc., surrendered to federal authorities on Monday, June 13, and has been ordered released on bond. Dave Corven Welcome Sr., 52, an engineer, and Michael Wayne Dixon, 54, a first engineer, both also formerly employed by Surf Subsea Inc., surrendered to federal authorities in Houston yesterday and today, respectively. Each has made their initial appearances before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Johnson and have been ordered released on bond pending trial. A warrant remains outstanding for Jay Allen Heater, 50, a vessel captain also formerly employed by Surf Subsea Inc.
The indictment charges all four defendants with conspiring to manufacture required training certificates to obtain upgrades to their existing Merchant Mariner Credentials. Stilwell and Heater are also charged with submitting false verification letters, fraudulently created and endorsed by Heater, to the Regional Exam Center in Houston. The charges are the result of a six-month federal investigation conducted by the CGIS of the Gulf Coast with the cooperation of Surf Subsea Inc., a company based in Magnolia, Texas. which employed all of the accused.
“To circumnavigate the very procedures designed to credential competent mariners, is indicative of the propensity to throw caution to the wind during vessel navigation on charted waterways,” said Rodriguez. “The potential for disaster is too great to allow unskilled mariners to fraudulently assume positions for which they are not qualified.”
According to allegations in the indictment, between June 2010 and February 2011, Stilwell and Heater conspired to use a nation-wide office supply and printing center in Kansas City, Mo., to manufacture Large Offshore Supply Vessel, or OSV, Training Program Certificates bearing the logo of Otto Candies LLC. Otto Candies is a company located in Des Allemands, La., with a legitimate Coast Guard sanctioned Large OSV Training Program. The fraudulent certificates were then submitted to Coast Guard Regional Examination Centers (REC) in Houston, Miami, Fla., and New Orleans, La., with applications requesting upgrades to the existing Merchant Mariner Credentials for each of the accused, according to the indictment. RECs are the first stop toward obtaining Merchant Mariner Credential, Certificates of Registry and Standards of Training, Certification and Watch Keeping forms. RECs are responsible for the pre-screening of applications, administration of examinations and oversight of approved courses prior the mariner applications final submission to the National Maritime Center (NMC). The NMC is the licensing authority for the United States Coast Guard which must approve all applications and certifications for a seaman, engineer or captain of a vessel to be qualified and certified to man certain vessels.
Heater allegedly produced and signed sea service verification letters for Stilwell indicating sea time experience on vessels belonging to companies for which Stilwell was not employed. Stilwell, in turn, allegedly submitted an application, containing the fraudulent sea time verification letters, to the Coast Guard Regional Examination Center in Houston requesting an upgrade to his existing Merchant Mariner Credential. According to the indictment, in August 2010, Stilwell sent an e-mail to Heater with a false Otto Candies Large OSV Training Program certificate (for chief engineer) for Welcome which was granted in September 2010. In December 2010, Dixon allegedly submitted an application through the REC in New Orleans for an upgrade which included a fraudulent Otto Candies Large OSV Training Program Certificate.
The upgrades in Merchant Mariner Credentials allegedly sought by the defendants would have allowed the accused to obtain more advanced positions they were not qualified to hold and higher pay within Surf Subsea Inc.
Each of the two counts alleged in the indictment carry a maximum punishment of five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine upon conviction.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Suzanne Elmilady is prosecuting the case.
An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence.
A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until convicted through due process of law.
Geez this thread made it to Facebook super fast.
Its pretty common. Worse when the company writes it for them.
Or when someone in the office has no clue and gives sea time as the entire time they employee has been employed.
My problem has been getting the letters for actual time earned. I’ve had to wait up to four months for a letter after I left and that was with calls and emails.
Then getting mistakes corrected is another problem.
of course, for someone like myself who believes all large OSV training programs are bogus to begin with the wording of the press release makes it sound that a true large OSV master has skills even God himself can’t provide a man and the four charged were such a menace to navigation to present a “clear and present danger” to ships the entire planet over. Such HYPERBOLE!
So did any of the four lose their MMC’s permanently?
Desert Storm 1991 aboard the Cape Archway. “Capt.” William Plato Cox, Jr. in charge. Ship is carrying ~13,000 tons of bombs to offload via ConRep and VertRep in the Red Sea. After a while a few of us just got an “off” feeling about the guy. Long story short, we (the junior mates) had him checked out (for one thing his license in the rack was a copy, looked like there was a few spots that had been whiteout-ed, and typed over in another typeface) turns out he was a fraud. He had a limited Master’s Inland license and changed it, faxed a copy to the company and they sent him out to meet the ship in Marseilles…
[QUOTE=williwaw;153730]Desert Storm 1991 aboard the Cape Archway. “Capt.” William Plato Cox, Jr. in charge. Ship is carrying ~13,000 tons of bombs to offload via ConRep and VertRep in the Red Sea. After a while a few of us just got an “off” feeling about the guy. Long story short, we (the junior mates) had him checked out (for one thing his license in the rack was a copy, looked like there was a few spots that had been whiteout-ed, and typed over in another typeface) turns out he was a fraud. He had a limited Master’s Inland license and changed it, faxed a copy to the company and they sent him out to meet the ship in Marseilles…[/QUOTE]
That’s the reason why you can verify a credential on the NMC website now. Companies do use it, too.
…and what happened?
[QUOTE=williwaw;153730]Desert Storm 1991 aboard the Cape Archway. “Capt.” William Plato Cox, Jr. in charge. Ship is carrying ~13,000 tons of bombs to offload via ConRep and VertRep in the Red Sea. After a while a few of us just got an “off” feeling about the guy. Long story short, we (the junior mates) had him checked out (for one thing his license in the rack was a copy, looked like there was a few spots that had been whiteout-ed, and typed over in another typeface) turns out he was a fraud. He had a limited Master’s Inland license and changed it, faxed a copy to the company and they sent him out to meet the ship in Marseilles…[/QUOTE]
…and what happened?
