Ex-Cadet Admits Smuggling Kings Point student in Ecstasy scheme

Newsday.com ^ | July 1, 2003 | Robert E. Kessler

[jjm2111]

former cadet at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point and his friend pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy to smuggle the drug Ecstasy into the country, taking advantage of the academy's tradition of having cadets spend time on ocean-going merchant ships.

Mark Posthumus, 30, and his friend, James Pagano, 30, both of Kendall Park, N.J., admitted in U.S. District Court in Central Islip that when Posthumus was a cadet at the academy between August 1998 and January 1999, they smuggled a total of 380,000 Ecstasy pills into the country.

[snip]

According to court papers, Posthumus and Pagano flew to the Netherlands at least five times and purchased large amounts of Ecstasy.

At the port of Rotterdam, they handed a gym bag containing the pills to an unnamed cadet. That cadet, taking part in the shipboard training missions, then smuggled the Ecstasy into the United States, according to the court papers. Several unnamed cadets cooperated with investigators.

FBI agents in Europe, who had a tip about the smuggling operation, and Dutch police arrested Posthumus and Pagano in Rotterdam in January 1999 as they gave a gym bag containing 93,000 Ecstasy pills to another cadet, according to court papers.

[snip]

Posthumus was discharged from the academy a few months before he was scheduled to graduate in January 1999, academy spokesman Martin Skyrocki said. One other cadet involved resigned, Skyrocki said.

[snip]

Posthumus and Pagano have already served several years in a Dutch prison for the smuggling, according to court papers. Posthumus faces 87 to 108 months in prison and Pagano 78 to 97 months when they are sentenced by U.S. District Judge Leonard Wexler.

[jjm2111]

I knew this guy personally and he was a class 1 a-hole.

[jjm2111]

Also, the morons at Newsday should know the appropriate title is Midshipman; but they're reporters, so hey.

WOD Ping!

[jjm2111]

Ping!

[vetvetdoug]

With a name like Posthumous there is a joke in there somewhere.

[jmc813]

WOD Ping

[MrLeRoy]

Wod_list (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/involved?group=124) ping

[USMMA_83]

Man, we had some serious a-holes in our time there too. I remember one day while cleaning the latrine with my toothbruch, I said to an upperclass man, "Sir, the cream rises to the top eventaully! And, his reply was, "So does scum, plebe."

[jjm2111]

This guy Posthumus was the worst. He was one of those individuals who thought his poop didn't stink. He would gleefully place plebes on report while breaking all the rules himself (not to mention that little felony thing).

He showed off so badly with his drug money too. He bought himself a BMW 540, $800 pairs of shoes, and Rolexes. He would walk around campus like he was a god.

People laughed their asses off when he was caught. The kid was almost universally loathed. His parents disowned him (I think).

[ElCid2000]

That figures. Is it something in the water up there? You had those guys Crowley and Valjato raping female midshipmen, Posthumus smuggling extacy, and then your graduates skip out on their reserve commitments. Tell me if I'm missing something, but the U.S. Flag merchant fleet only has about 300 ships left in it. So do we really need a dedicated service academy for a small part of the Navy Reserve (That skips its reserve drill anyway)?

[jjm2111]

You had those guys Crowley and Valjato raping female midshipmen,

Complete bullshit.