Italian oil tanker officer gets prison for discharging waste

An Italian oil tanker's senior engineer who deliberately concealed that the tanker had discharged oily waste into the sea has been sentenced in New Jersey to prison time.

Sicily resident Girolamo Curatolo was sentenced Monday in Newark to eight months in prison after pleading guilty in federal court in August. He was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.

The discharges came from a vessel owned by an Italian shipping company called D'Amica Shipping Italia S.p.A. The vessel visited ports in New Jersey, Maryland and Florida.

Curatolo admitted the crew bypassed pollution prevention equipment and discharged oily waste through the tanker's sewage system. He admitted he falsified an oil record log and instructed lower-level crew members to lie to the U.S. Coast Guard during inspections.

Engineer Danilo Maimone pleaded guilty and will be sentenced in January.