WCNYH

Port Watchman Application Withdrawn with Prejudice Following Charges of Frauds and Violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act

June 26, 2017

    Today, the Commission accepted the request of Stephen G. Bardsley to withdraw his application for a license as a port watchman with prejudice. Mr. Bardsley was facing charges at an administrative hearing that he violated the Waterfront Commission Act by lacking good character and integrity and by committing acts of fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation in connection with his application.

   In 1997 to 2010, Bardsley worked at Congressional Seafood Company, Inc. where he was responsible for ensuring the maintenance of proper sanitary conditions and practices for the fish product distributor. In 2009, in the U.S. District Court, District of Maryland, plaintiff United States of America filed a complaint for an injunction against Bardsley and others for violating the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, because he was among those allegedly responsible for the distribution of fish and fishery products that were prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby they may have been rendered injurious to health. In 2010, Bardsley and his co-defendants signed a consent decree that restrained and enjoined them from preparing, packing, holding, and distributing fish or fishery food products until meeting certain conditions to ensure safety. During the same year, Bardsley’s employment at Congressional Seafood Company, Inc. ended. He would later become a member of the International Longshoremen’s Association, working as a checker in the Port of Baltimore.

    On March 2, 2017, Bardsley filed an application with the Waterfront Commission for a license as a port watchman (security officer) at APM Terminals in Elizabeth, New Jersey. A Notice of Hearing charged that he failed to properly disclose on his application both his employment at Congressional Seafood Company, Inc. and also the litigation alleging that he violated the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. He was alleged to have falsely claimed on his application that he was unemployed and then worked elsewhere during the period when he was actually working at Congressional Seafood Company, Inc. The Notice of Hearing further alleged that Bardsley lacks the requisite good character and integrity for a license as a port watchman because of his violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the frauds he committed in connection with his Commission application.

   Facing charges of violating the Waterfront Commission Act, Bardsley requested the withdrawal of his application for a license as a port watchman with prejudice. Today, the Commission accepted the request, thereby barring Bardsley from working as a security officer on the ports of New York Harbor.