Iowa shipping CEO gets 33 months for South China Sea dumping case

[Judi Lynn]

Saturday, April 2, 2005 6:05 AM CST
Iowa shipping CEO gets 33 months for South China Sea dumping case

MIAMI (AP) --- A federal judge Friday sentenced the chief executive officer of an Iowa shipping company to 33 months in prison for directing the illegal dumping of 442 tons of fuel-contaminated wheat from a freighter into the South China Sea.

U.S. District Judge Alan Gold also ordered Rick Dean Stickle to pay $60,000 in fines for dumping the oily grain in 1999. Stickle, chairman and chief executive officer at Sabine Transportation Co. of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was permitted to remain free on bond pending an expected appeal.

The wheat, intended for distribution by humanitarian group CARE in Bangladesh, was contaminated by diesel fuel leaking into one of the freighter Juneau's main cargo holds. The company asked for permission to dump the grain at sea but was told that doing so violated U.S. law.

Prosecutors said Stickle tried to conceal the crime and obstruct investigators. His company and four other employees pleaded guilty previously in the case, with the company agreeing to pay $2 million in fines.
(snip/...)

http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2005/04/02/business/local/33eb4004595fa50786256fd70007d120.txt

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nov 26, 2004

Sabine CEO convicted in Juneau pollution case

Rick Dean Stickle, Chairman and CEO of Sabine Transportation Inc, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was convicted Tuesday by a Miami federal jury for his role in the 1999 dumping of oil-contaminated wheat in the South China Sea from the S. S. Juneau.

In August, Sabine Transportation was fined $2 million and put on probation in relation to a number of dumping incidents involving the Juneau and other Sabine vessels. Three crew members shared a $1 million whisteleblower award in that case.

On Tuesday, according to a U.S. Department of Justice statement, Stickle was convicted of engaging in a multi-purpose conspiracy to illegally discharge the oil contaminated grain at sea; of obstructing a proceeding initiated by the United States Coast Guard by presenting the Coast Guard false and misleading statements and records; and of defrauding the United States by hampering and impeding the Coast Guard and the Department of Agriculture in their efforts to enforce environmental laws and the laws and regulations governing the carriage and delivery of donated agricultural commodities.
(snip/...)

http://www.marinelog.com/DOCS/NEWSMMIV/MMIVNov26.html

[bahrbearian]

1. A Big GOP donor

Check out Newsmeat http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?city=Cedar+Rapids&st=IA&last=Stickle&first=Rick

[Blue Gardener]

3. Not surprised

This guy lives a couple miles from where I grew up. Everyone around here has always considered him a jackass. This just proves it.

[DemoTex]

2. Too bad he can't serve his sentence in sight of the South China Sea.

Singapore. Chiangi Prison. Doesn't get much worse than that.