Ex-captain pleads guilty to drugging, raping U.S. Merchant Marine Academy cadet on a cargo ship

John Merrone, 53, admitted he had sexual intercourse with the cadet without her consent “on the ship, in the middle of the ocean,” after knocking her out with an intoxicant in 2019.

A former cargo ship captain pleaded guilty Wednesday to drugging and raping a 21-year-old U.S. Merchant Marine Academy cadet who was working on the vessel as part of the academy’s Sea Year training program.

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John Merrone, 53, pleaded guilty just as his trial was about to start in Brooklyn federal court. He admitted that he had sexual intercourse with the cadet without her consent “on the ship, in the middle of the ocean,” after knocking her out with an intoxicant in 2019.

A jury had been picked and the woman, identified only as Jane Doe, was in the courthouse waiting to testify. Prosecutors were also planning to call as witnesses several other women who have accused Merrone of sexual assaults over the last three decades.