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Fugitive Sentenced in Seattle for Failing to Appear for Trial
Release Date: 8/1/2002
Contact Information: Luke Hester
[email protected]
(202) 564-7818
August 1, 2002
HQ-R-144
Sherman Smith, owner of Seawall Construction, a Seattle area marine construction company, was sentenced on July 12 as a result of his June 12 guilty plea to the offense of failing to appear for a judicial proceeding. He was sentenced to six months imprisonment and one year of supervised release.
Smith was surrendered to the U.S. Marshall’s Service in Tucson, Ariz., on April 1 by the Mexican government. Smith had forfeited $20,000 bail when he failed to appear for trial in federal court in Washington state in May 1996 and had been living in Mexico. Smith was previously charged on Sept. 27, 1995, in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle with violating the Clean Water Act. The charges arose from an oil spill that occurred when the M/V Tug Omar sank in Puget Sound. Witnesses alleged that Smith had not properly maintained the tug and knew it was taking on water. Previously, in 1989, Smith had been convicted of pumping oily bilge water into Puget Sound.
The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Washington State Environmental Crimes Task Force and was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Seattle, Wash.
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