Randall Dantin Sentenced To Prison For Mississippi River Oil Spill In 2008

NEW ORLEANS — The co-owner of a company whose towboat was involved in a major oil spill that closed part of the Mississippi River for nearly a week was sentenced Wednesday to 21 months in prison.

U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle also ordered Randall Dantin, 46, of Marrero, to pay a $50,000 fine and ordered his company, DRD Towing Company LLC, to pay a $200,000 fine.

Dantin pleaded guilty last year to obstruction of justice for causing electronic payroll sheets to be deleted before the Coast Guard could review them. The company pleaded guilty to operating vessels with unqualified and overworked captains and to negligently discharging oil.

In July 2008, the DRD towboat Mel Oliver was pushing a tanker barge when it collided with a tanker ship. The barge spilled 283,000 gallons of fuel and closed part of the river near New Orleans for six days.

A Coast Guard probe found that John Paul Bavaret II, a sleep-deprived apprentice mate, was at the tug's helm without a captain at his side, a violation of Coast Guard rules.

Bavaret, 41, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a felony violation of the Ports and Waterways Safety Act and a misdemeanor violation of the Clean Water Act. The safety act charge carries a maximum sentence of six years in prison and the clean water act violation is punishable by a maximum of one year in prison. His sentencing is set for April 27.

Ivan Vikin, special agent in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency's criminal enforcement program in Louisiana, said DRD Towing has a history of operating undermanned vessels with unqualified workers.

"These sentences demonstrate our commitment to hold accountable those violators who damage the environment and, at the same time, endanger their workers by placing them in harm's way," he said in a statement.

Comments

[The Resistance]

02:35 PM on 01/24/2011

Spill a gallon of oil, it's a crime. Spill a million gallons, it's a statistic.

[onalimb]

11:26 AM on 01/24/2011

Typical American justice double standard.

[Meesterclean]

11:11 AM on 01/24/2011

Why are there two justice systems in America?

[tygh]

01:14 AM on 01/24/2011

The minimum fine for spilling over 1,000 gallons of oil should be $1,000,000.00 Companies will continue to take safety risks for more profits until fines are high enough to hurt their bottom line.

[roseau]

06:24 PM on 01/23/2011

Phew! Just as long as no oil companies are punished I can rest easy.

[tooncesrocks]

03:54 PM on 01/23/2011

Article translation:

America is committed to crushing you*

*you defined as a non-corporate entity &/or a donor of less than $500,000 each election cycle

[janie@atthelake]

03:13 PM on 01/23/2011

Yes he should get jail time & pay a fine. BUT, what about jail time for those involved in the BP spill?...................I am still scratching my head over Justice Thomas forgetting his wife earned $686,589!...and forgot.

[afgail]

03:55 PM on 01/23/2011

Impeach Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scali for conflict of interest in the Citzens United decision.

[aligatorhardt]

03:21 PM on 01/22/2011

Some small time guy gets jail time but those who spills millions of gallons go free? And taxpayers and customers cover the costs. Justice for some but not for others with friends in high places.

[mudshark12]

02:00 AM on 01/22/2011

Ivan Vikin said: "These sentences demonstrate our commitment to hold accountable those violators who damage the environment and, at the same time, endanger their workers by placing them in harm's way," he said in a statement."

Wake up Ivan, you should have qualified that by saying "those smaller violators who damage the environment and blah blah blah .....

This is Amerika where the Big violator mostly get away with polluting the environment. This is just another example of token justice where the court system makes an example out of some poor schmuck to try and convince us they are doing their jobs.

[lightningbolt]

12:05 PM on 01/21/2011

Justice is only for little people.  BP executives will totally get away with their much larger crimes.

[BebeLush]

05:08 PM on 01/21/2011

Precisely. Not enough money to keep the case tied up in court for the next 20 years. What a joke.

[westreal]

11:36 AM on 01/21/2011

Too bad he's not the CEO of BP or Halliburton. He would have gotten off scott free.

[teaksmama]

10:44 AM on 01/21/2011

open the cage for bp next

[thetruth92802]

10:25 AM on 01/21/2011

California oil rigs and get things up and running again. It seems as if it is a good idea, because oil is a gold mine and can generate tons of revenue and get the profit sharing going for the state and local markets again. But at the same time, look at all the animals that were killed and injured badly, along with all the souls crushed that belonged to the animal activists. Several lives were changed and even ruined and now with the subtle hint that maybe perhaps the oil rigs will re-open just sends a shockwave of negative rumblings generating throughout the state. Some will love it, and others will hate it,

[thetruth92802]

10:24 AM on 01/21/2011

Am very surprise the liberals did not blame bush for the Oil spill

[BebeLush]

05:09 PM on 01/21/2011

And you're not blaming Obama?

[tttony]

12:47 PM on 01/22/2011

Bush and Cheney are to blame. Halliburton installed faulty and incomplete safety equipment when the rig was built. Cheney was prior to election CEO of Halliburton and regulating the building of that rig fell under Dubya's watchful eye. Criminals, both.

[StringHerBell]

09:14 AM on 01/21/2011

No chance BP will be arrested for their oil spill?

[leajazz]

09:56 AM on 01/21/2011

BP was the first thing I thought of after reading the headline.

[teaksmama]

10:43 AM on 01/21/2011

me, too

[alvdh1]

01:55 PM on 01/21/2011

Actually, this is something the Republican's not only consider, but engage in everyday. You know, like Rush Limbaugh saying Democrats support Loughner who shot Congress Woman Gifford. Or Glen Beck paralelling every aspect of Obama's agenda to to what happened in Nazi Germany. I wouldn't expect you to recognize this since you are obviously puffing heavily on the Fixed News Crack Pipe.