A St. Clair County man pleaded guilty Tuesday afternoon to a felony charge related to falsifying records connected to a course he administered to students seeking to become credentialed merchant mariners.
Mel Stackpoole, 62, entered his guilty plea on Tuesday, August 12, 2025, before United States District Judge Terrence G. Berg, to one count of knowingly altering and falsifying records and documents with the intent to impede the proper administration of a matter within the jurisdiction of the United States Coast Guard.
According to court records, Stackpoole was the owner and lead instructor of Great Lakes Charter Training, a marine training school that offered Coast Guard approved training courses for the issuance of merchant mariner credentials (MMC).
In August of 2020, Stackpoole provided the students enrolled in his Master 100 Ton Captain’s Course with less than 50 hours of classroom instruction instead of the required 80 hours. He also instructed the students to provide false information regarding their prior sea service, medical history, and recreational drug use on their MMC applications to the Coast Guard.
Further, Stackpoole improperly provided the students with the answers to certain examination questions; changed students’ incorrect test answers into correct answers; and inflated the students’ test scores in order to reflect passing, rather than failing, grades.
Stackpoole ultimately issued course completion certificates to the students, falsely signifying their successful completion of the course to the Coast Guard.
According to the U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr, “Stackpoole …endangered the safety of everyone who uses the waterways of [the] Great Lakes by deliberately circumnavigating the Coast Guard’s training and certification protocols and facilitating the issuance of credentials to unskilled and unqualified mariners.”
The sentencing hearing is set for December 18, 2025, at 2pm, at which Stackpoole faces a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years of imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.
