NEW YORK — A former cargo ship captain pleaded guilty Wednesday to drugging and raping a 21-year-old U.S. Merchant Marine Academy cadet who was working on the ship as part of the academy’s Sea Year training program.

John Merrone, 53, pleaded guilty just as his trial was about to begin in federal court in Brooklyn. He admitted that he had sexual relations with the cadet without her consent “on the boat, in the middle of the ocean” after knocking her unconscious with a narcotic in 2019.

A jury had been chosen and the woman, identified only as Jane Doe, was in court waiting to testify. Prosecutors also planned to call as witnesses several other women who have accused Merrone of sexual assaults over the past three decades.

The Associated Press generally does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they agree to be identified.

Merrone was previously convicted of false imprisonment and assault after a Florida Keys waitress accused him of having sex with her against her will, but an appeals court overturned the verdict and prosecutors did not retry the case.

The former cadet, who still works in the maritime industry, watched through tears from the courtroom gallery as Merrone impassively said “guilty” to each of the five charges, including aggravated sexual abuse and abusive sexual contact.

Her attorney, Ryan Melogy, said she turned to him afterward and said, “It’s over.”

“Sex crimes are notoriously difficult to prosecute in general,” Melogy said. “When they occur in the middle of the ocean aboard a ship, the level of difficulty in processing them probably increases exponentially.”

Merrone faces life in prison, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Kayla Bensing said federal sentencing guidelines call for 15 to 19 years behind bars. Merrone’s lawyers said they believe that estimate is too high. The guidelines are advisory and the judge, Ramón E. Reyes Jr., could sentence him to more or less time.

Merrone will remain free on bail until sentencing, which is scheduled for December 22. He and his attorneys, Bruce Barket and Nicole Aloise, declined to comment as they left court.

A message seeking comment was left for the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.

“It is my hope that today’s guilty plea will give the survivor of this attack some peace of mind knowing that the defendant has been held accountable for his despicable conduct,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said in a statement.

According to prosecutors, Merrone began sending Facebook messages to the cadet and another student a few weeks before they boarded their ship, the 623-foot-long (190-meter-long) Liberty Glory, for a voyage from Bahrain to Corpus Christi, Texas.

On Sept. 9, 2019, after more than a month on board and with just over a week left on the trip, prosecutors said Merrone sent a message to the cadet and her friend asking them to come to her room for a “refreshment.”

“Captain, you know I stay away from soda!” the cadet wrote.

“Maybe you like my soda!?!?” Merron responded.

The women agreed, prosecutors said, and the captain served them each a drink from an already opened bottle of alcohol, then opened a new bottle and poured himself a drink.

Shortly after drinking some of the drinks, the women “lost memory of the rest of the night,” prosecutors said.

The cadet woke up the next morning in her bed wearing only a shirt and bra but no pants or underwear, feeling nauseous; She had a headache and felt vaginal discomfort, prosecutors said. Her friend woke up with stomach cramps and a debilitating headache, prosecutors said. He did not accuse Merrone of sexual assault.

Merrone called the cadet to his room and told him he “had fun last night,” that “one thing led to another” and asked him to do it again, prosecutors said. After the cadet told her he did not remember what happened and that the encounter was not consensual, Merrone offered her money, which she refused, prosecutors said.

Merrone later sent the cadet a photo of her holding money from what she believed to be from the night of the assault, along with a message: “Haha. This is how you make a woman happy!!!!” He did not remember the photo being taken, prosecutors said.

After that, prosecutors said, the captain went to the cadet’s room and removed from his pocket the underwear she had been wearing the night of the assault.

The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, New York, trains students to work in the commercial shipping industry. It has an enrollment of around 1,000 students. It is one of five military service academies and the only one under the US Department of Transportation.

In 2016, the academy temporarily closed the Sea Year program, which sends cadets to work on container ships, oil tankers, passenger liners and other vessels, amid concerns about sexual abuse and bullying. The program resumed in 2017 on vessels operated by three companies that, according to the academy, had implemented new preventive policies.

The academy suspended the Sea Year program again in 2021 after another cadet said a cargo ship supervisor got her drunk and raped her. It resumed after more safety protocols were implemented.