Man pleads guilty in crewmember killing on LA-bound ship

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A crewman who stabbed to death his supervisor on a container ship heading to Los Angeles pleaded guilty Monday to a federal charge that carries a potential life sentence, prosecutors said.

Michael Dequito Monegro, 43, of the Philippines, entered a plea to committing an act of violence against someone aboard a ship that is likely to endanger the vessel's safe navigation, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. He is scheduled to be sentenced in September.

Monegro was working on the MSC Ravenna on a two-week run from Shanghai to Los Angeles in September 2020 when he stabbed the man as the vessel was about 92 miles (148 kilometers) off the Southern California coast, according to his plea agreement.

Monegro attacked his supervisor in a hallway outside a locker room, prosecutors said.

The two men struggled and fell down. Monegro got on top of his victim, stabbed him, pulled a second knife from his supervisor's coveralls and attacked him with both knives despite other crewmembers trying to stop him, including throwing a trash can at him, prosecutors said.

'Å“Monegro admitted that he only stopped stabbing the victim when he became too tired to continue," a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

The ship's captain, chief mate and chief engineer arrived and the captain finally convinced Monegro to get off the victim, who died on the ship, the statement said.

It didn't indicate a motive for the attack or name the victim.

Monegro was arrested a week later when the ship docked at the Port of Los Angeles.