U.S. Attorney Duane Evans announced five more people plead guilty in a United States Coast Guard exam center scheme to alter test scores. This brings the total number of people pleading guilty to 26.
According to the Department of Justice, maritime industry worker Alonzo Williams admitted that he acted as an intermediary in the scheme to bribe a Coast Guard employee to enter false scores for another mariner. Williams also acknowledged that he had his own exam scores fixed.
Alexia Lovett, Fredrick Nettles, Stinson Payne, and Shumanique Willis, also admitted to participating in the scheme by using false exam scores to obtain unearned licenses.
The exams tested mariners’ knowledge and training to safely operate under merchant mariner licenses, which are legally required to work various positions on vessels.
Prosecutors say Coast Guard specialist Dorothy Smith entered the false scores in the scheme.
The indictment alleges that Smith accepted bribes and used a network of intermediaries.
U.S. Attorney Evans says the indictment’s allegations against Smith are merely charges and has not been convicted.
The maximum penalty for each defendant is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine with three years’ supervised release.
