Tag Archives: accepted bribes

Coast Guard license bribery scheme – Pair helped more than 30 merchant mariners illegally obtain licenses

Two former Coast Guard employees were sentenced to prison Thursday for their roles in a bribery scheme that let seamen obtain merchant mariner licenses without completing the required tests. Dorothy Smith, 67, and Eldridge Johnson, 70, pleaded guilty to rigging results of safety and training tests that mariners must pass to serve on vessels, the U.S. attorney’s office said. Smith, a credentialing specialist, accepted bribes to fix exam scores for applicants who often didn’t even show up for their tests,,, In addition to Johnson, Smith and their intermediaries, 32 mariners pleaded guilty to felony charges. >click to read< 07:55