Former Crowley officer hit with sexual assault allegations

US Coast Guard prosecutors are pursuing charges against a former Crowley deck officer’s licence to work as sexual harassment and assault cases mount before the agency’s judges.

It comes as legal documents show the Coast Guard last year reached settlement deals with three other officers facing similar charges who worked on the company’s managed ships.

The case follows an escalation in reports of sexual assault and harassment since the December 2022 passage of the Safer Seas Act provided new protection for seafarers.

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In the latest case before the administrative judges, Coast Guard prosecutors filed charges against the credentials of Gregory Alan Steele.

He was working as chief mate on the 3,380-gt oceanographic survey ship USNS Able (built 1991) at the time of the alleged assault, according to documents seen by TradeWinds.

The ship is owned by the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command and was under the management of Crowley, a Florida maritime conglomerate.

Coast Guard lawyers are seeking revocation of Steele’s licence to work as a mariner.

Prosecutors argued that Steele was working on the ship in June 2022 when he allegedly grabbed a crew member’s buttocks while ashore in Okinawa, Japan, and then continued to rub the seafarer’s arms and shoulders even after being asked to stop.

They also accused him of rubbing the inner thigh and genital region of the ship’s chief cook without her permission.

Steele, through his lawyers at the Korody Law firm, has denied the allegations against him.

Rising reporting

Experts pointed out that employers of US mariners are all facing increased scrutiny on sexual assault and harassment matters, and the number of cases against Crowley seafarers is a reflection of its size.

Maritime attorney Ryan Melogy, who represents seafarers in such cases and who runs the nonprofit group Maritime Legal Aid & Advocacy, said the number of cases is a result of growing reporting requirements following US passage of the Safer Seas Act in 2022 and the US Coast Guard’s increased attention to the issue.

“It represents a policy shift by the US Coast Guard,” he said.

Asked previously about the Crowley seafarers facing charges before the Coast Guard judges, Crowley spokesman David DeCamp told TradeWinds earlier this year that the company was the first to be admitted into the US government’s sexual assault and sexual harassment prevention and response policy programme known as EMBARC, which is short for Every Mariner Builds a Respectful Culture.

“This programme requires participating companies to adhere to a set of policies, standards, procedures and practices to help strengthen a culture of sexual assault and sexual harassment prevention, remove barriers to reporting incidents, and support appropriate responses to incidents of misconduct,” he said in a written statement.

“Crowley was a proud partner in shaping the policies for this programme, and later the Safer Seas Act, which has helped create safer working environments for all maritime employees.”

“Mr Steele has maintained his innocence, and he’s looking forward to presenting the case,” lawyer Patrick Korody told TradeWinds.

Korody, who worked as a Navy lawyer before starting his firm, said legislative changes have made it easier to revoke mariner credentials without the seafarers being prosecuted in court.

“It defies what I believe is the concept of justice in our country,” he said.

Coast Guard lawyers said in legal filings that the agency began investigating the case after Crowley reported that it fired a mariner following an internal sexual assault probe.

“As a values-driven company built on the principles of integrity and doing the right thing, we have zero tolerance for harassment of any kind,” Crowley spokesman David DeCamp told TradeWinds.

“As soon as this matter was brought to our attention, we immediately investigated, took appropriate corrective action including termination of employment, and reported the incident to the US Coast Guard.”

Settled cases

The case comes before the Coast Guard administrative law judge system after three other former Crowley seafarers reached settlements to end cases against them last year.

Legal documents show that former Crowley Government Services third mate Matthew Justin Thomas agreed to a one-year suspension of his merchant mariner’s licence after the Coast Guard accused him of misconduct involving abusive sexual contact on the 3,347-gt USNS Victorious (built 1991), a surveillance ship owned by the Military Sealift Command and operated by Crowley.

In a July 2022 complaint with the court, Coast Guard prosecutors alleged that Thomas slapped the buttocks of two US Navy officers in a restaurant on a base in Okinawa.

Thomas was also accused of alcohol violations that led Crowley to fire him, court records show.

Crowley Government Services seafarer Aaron Thomas Jandreau agreed to a settlement in May of last year that involved a licence suspension for 12 months and another 24 months of probation.

That came after the agency charged him in 2022 with misconduct that included abusive sexual contact and sexual harassment.

According to documents before the administrative law judges, Jandreau was a first assistant engineer on the 11,000-dwt heavylift vessel Ocean Jazz (built 2010) in early 2020 when he allegedly sexually harassed an engine cadet.

Also last year the Coast Guard filed charges against former Crowley chief mate Joseph Robert McCann on sexual harassment charges.

According to documents seen by TradeWinds, the charges relate to his time as chief mate aboard the 49,800-dwt tanker American Freedom (built 2017), operated by Crowley’s Intrepid Ship Management.

The Coast Guard alleged that in 2017, he made unwanted social media messages toward a female deck cadet from the US Merchant Marine Academy that violated Crowley’s sexual harassment policy.

Crowley fired him, but Coast Guard legal documents show that he later went on to work for AP Moller-Maersk’s US-flag shipping unit.

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McCann denied the allegations, but in May 2023, the judge approved a settlement deal with McCann in both the Maersk and Crowley cases. The officer agreed to a suspension of his licence for 15 months, followed by 24 months of probation, documents show.

In response to questions about the cases, DeCamp told TradeWinds that the company supports the victims who come forward in sexual assault and harassment cases.

“And we acknowledge and respect the bravery and courage it takes for them to share their experiences,” DeCamp said.

“In support of the work we have done to ensure the safety of people in our workplaces and on our vessels, we will continue to enhance and improve our current policies and procedures to ensure that Crowley is truly a safe and welcoming environment for all.”