A Ukraine national on Friday pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court to operating a 590-foot-long commercial cargo ship while drunk, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
In pleading guilty, 51-year-old Vadim Humenyuk of Izmail, Ukraine, admitted he was intoxicated while on duty as the head officer, or master, of the Rainbow Quest, a Gibraltar-registered ship, federal prosecutors said Friday.
The 590-foot long Rainbow Quest was in San Francisco Bay Dec. 10 and preparing to sail to South Korea when a San Francisco Bar Pilot contacted the U.S. Coast Guard to say the captain of the Rainbow Quest appeared to be intoxicated.
Coast Guard investigators then administered sobriety tests to Humenyuk on the night of Dec. 10 and early on the morning of Dec. 11. Humenyuk failed those tests, and was charged with operating a non-recreational vessel under the influence of alcohol, a misdemeanor.
Humenyuk faces a maximum of up to a year in jail, an additional year of supervised release and a maximum $100,000 fine. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 3 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.
Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area. © 2022 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
A judge said on Monday that there are indications that a transient man is malingering to avoid standing trial...
A 67-year-old man died when his vehicle struck a Muni bus boarding island early Saturday morning, police said Monday....
San Francisco firefighters contained a two-alarm fire in the Richmond District Monday afternoon leaving one person dead, fire officials...
