Four Charged in $200K Phony Mariner Credentialing Scheme

Lamont Godfrey, 42, of Portsmouth, Eugene Johnson, 45, of Norfolk, Shunmanique Willis, 43, of Texas, and Alonzo Williams, 45, of Louisiana, are facing charges including conspiracy and mail and wire fraud for allegedly acting in concert to create counterfeit certificates from the Mid-Atlantic Maritime Academy (MAMA) and sell them to merchant mariners for a profit, according to an unsealed indictment. Godfrey worked for the MAMA as the school’s Chief Administrator. 

According to the indictment, Godfrey used his position to create fake MAMA course certificates for mariners who had never taken the MAMA courses in exchange for thousands of dollars in payments. In total, the scheme netted over $200,000 in profits from the production and sale of the certificates to over 150 mariners, the indictment alleges.

Located in Norfolk, Virginia, MAMA is a private maritime training center offering mariners over 100 U.S. Coast Guard approved deck and engineering courses.

“The mariners would receive the fake certificates along with instructions on how to load them in the Coast Guard systems and be credited with a fraudulent Coast Guard qualification,” a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Eastern District of Virginia said. “Johnson, Willis, and Williams worked with Godfrey as brokers to find additional mariners willing to buy the fake certificates. In exchange for their efforts, Johnson, Willis, and Williams all received a cut of the illicit proceeds from the scheme.”

The four men are charged with conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft. If convicted, they face a mandatory minimum of two years in prison.

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