For deliberately concealing a vessel’s discharge of oily waste, Girolamo Curatolo, 50, of Custonaci, Sicily, the chief engineer of the oil tanker Cielo di Milano, who had previously pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to violate the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, has been sentenced to eight months in prison for deliberately concealing a vessel’s discharge of oily waste.

The vessel, owned by D’Amico Shipping Italia S.p.A. and managed by D’Amico Societa di Navigazione S.p.A., visited ports in New Jersey multiple times, as well as ports in Maryland and Florida.

Curatolo admitted that the crew had intentionally bypassed required pollution prevention equipment by discharging oily waste from the engine room through its sewage system into the sea. He also admitted that he falsified the vessel’s Oil Record Book.

Curatolo also admitted he made false statements to the U.S. Coast Guard during its inspection of the Cielo di Milano in January 2015, instructing lower-level crew members to make false statements and destroying the vessel’s sounding log – which records the contents of storage tanks aboard the vessel, including those containing oily waste – by ripping the pages out and burning it in the vessel’s boiler after the U.S. Coast Guard had boarded the vessel.

In addition to the prison term, Curatolo was sentence to one year of supervised release and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.

Danilo Maimone, 31, of Furci Siculo, Sicily, the ship’s first assistant engineer, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to obstruct justice. Maimone admitted concealing the discharge of oily waste as well as causing a false Oil Record Book to be presented to the U.S. Coast Guard during its inspection of the vessel. He also admitted making false statements and instructing lower-level crew members to do the same during the January 2015 inspection. Maimone is scheduled for sentencing on January 18, 2017.