{"id":296335,"date":"2026-07-15T08:29:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T08:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/296335\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T08:29:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T08:29:18","slug":"ex-sea-captain-accused-of-raping-merchant-marine-cadet-in-2019-finally-heads-to-nyc-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/296335\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-sea captain accused of raping Merchant Marine cadet in 2019 finally heads to NYC trial"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An accused sicko cargo-ship captain <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lattiassociates.com\/another-sexual-assault-accusation-story-of-midshipman-x-spawns-new-allegations-against-others\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">who allegedly<\/a> drugged and raped a Merchant Marine Academy cadet during a 2019 work-study program is finally headed to trial in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n<p>Opening statements are set to start Wednesday in the trial of John Merrone, who nearly spilled out of his wheelchair headed to court for pre-trial proceedings Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>The former captain of the American-flagged cargo ship Liberty Glory faces charges of aggravated sexual abuse and other sex crimes for allegedly raping a female cadet after he spiked her drink aboard the vessel Sept. 9, 2019, Brooklyn federal prosecutors have said.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49707602;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39984641\" width=\"883\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/jury-selection-nearly-complete-opening-134339473.jpg\" alt=\"John Merrone in a wheelchair outside Brooklyn Federal Court.\" class=\"wp-image-39984641\"  \/>John Merrone, an accused sicko cargo-ship captain who allegedly drugged and raped a Merchant Marine Academy cadet during a 2019 work-study program, is finally headed to trial in Brooklyn. Gregory P. Mango<\/p>\n<p>Merrone of South Carolina invited the woman up to his stateroom to have a \u201csoda\u201d \u2014 a code name for booze since alcohol was banned on the ship \u2014 before he served her and another woman a drink from an already opened bottle, according to authorities.<\/p>\n<p>The victim, referred to as Jane Doe #1 in court papers, woke up in her room the next morning wearing only a shirt and bra but said she had a recollection of the evening before, officials said.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.33333333;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39984642\" width=\"787\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2016-file-photo-sign-welcomes-7893283.jpg\" alt=\"A sign welcomes visitors at the entrance to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y.\" class=\"wp-image-39984642\"  \/>The trial is set to begin Wednesday as Merrone nearly fell out of his wheelchair during pre-trial proceedings Tuesday. AP<\/p>\n<p>She later confronted Merrone about what happened, and the creep admitted that he had \u201cfun last night\u201d \u2014 while the victim said she had not consented to the encounter, according to authorities.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brooklyneagle.com\/401688\/jury-selection-begins-for-sexual-assault-case-against-ships-captain\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">His trial<\/a> is expected to last two weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Merrone faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted on the top charge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An accused sicko cargo-ship captain who allegedly drugged and raped a Merchant Marine Academy cadet during a 2019&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[57,9,56,63,65,64,12561,3018,5161,58],"class_list":["post-296335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-ocean","tag-rape","tag-sexual-assaults","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}