Filipino Seaman Pleads Guilty to Stabbing Container Ship Crew Member

Michael Monegro, a Philippines national, pleaded guilty to a federal charge over his repeated stabbing of a fellow crew member on a container ship heading from Shanghai to Los Angeles, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced May 2. Monegro was charged with committing an act of violence against a person on a ship that likely endangered the safe navigation of the ship. He could be sentenced to a maximum sentence of life in prison.

In September 2020, Monegro was working as a seaman on the Liberia-flagged MSC Ravenna, a 153,000-gross-ton container ship. Nearing the end of the two-week voyage from China to the Port of Los Angeles, Monegro repeatedly stabbed his direct supervisor, killing him, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. After the stabbing, Monegro was confined to a cabin where crewmembers were assigned to guard the door, precluding them from performing their normal duties, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Other crewmembers were traumatized by the incident, further endangering the navigation of the ship, it said.