Boat Engineer Gets Prison Time After Lying About Oil Dumping: Authorities

SAN DIEGO, CA — A boat engineer was sentenced to a year and a day in prison after he lied about illegal oil dumping on the vessel and conspired to obstruct a U.S. Coast Guard investigation, according to authorities.

Chief engineer Denys Korotkiy of the vessel Donald was sentenced Friday after being convicted of conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction and failure to maintain an accurate oil record book, authorities said. The case was investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Diego and the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Oily bilge water was illegally dumped from the Donald into the ocean and was not processed as required to prevent pollution, according to authorities, who said Korotkiy made false entries in the oil record book about how the bilge had been handled.

Vessel operating company Interunity Management GMBH previously pleaded guilty to false and incomplete records related to oily bilge water discharge and was ordered to pay $1.25 million, including over $312,000 for resources around the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve, authorities said.