A Cranberry man will serve one year in federal prison after pleading guilty on Wednesday to attacking his girlfriend while aboard a Norwegian cruise ship in international waters in 2022.

Quintin Owens, 28, of Cranberry, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Wednesday to one count of assault, a misdemeanor.

Two other counts were withdrawn by the U.S. attorney’s office as part of the plea deal.

U.S. District Judge William S. Stickman IV ordered Owens to serve an additional year of supervised release, pay a $5,000 fine and complete an anger management course as part of a negotiated plea agreement.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Vasquez Schmitt, Owens and the victim were on the Norwegian Getaway cruise ship, having left Port Canaveral, Florida, on Oct. 8, 2022, for a seven-day trip with stops in the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and the Dominican Republic.

On Oct. 11, around midnight, the woman was in their room alone when Owens returned yelling. He punched her and threw her to the ground, and then put her in a choke hold, Vasquez Schmitt said.

“(The victim) had trouble breathing and felt like her eyes were going to pop out of her head,” the prosecutor told the judge.

She was able to get away and fled the room. Owens could be seen later on video surveillance angrily banging on other cabin doors and “violently kicking” the door to their room, Vasquez Schmitt said.

Later, Owens threatened the security officers on the cruise ship and had to be medically sedated. He woke up handcuffed to a bed in the infirmary.

Owens submitted more than 40 letters to the court and had about three dozen supporters in the courtroom. He told Stickman he had no recollection of beating and choking his girlfriend and that he suspected he’d been drugged.

“I remember waking up handcuffed to the bed,” he said.

Officials told him he’d been out of control. He was removed from the ship in St. Thomas and spent a few hours in a hospital there before flying home.

Owens said he’d asked for toxicology testing, but none was done.

He told the court he was surprised by the criminal charges because they were not filed for more than a year. Still, he said, he was working to become a better person.

“Character isn’t about my intent. It’s about actions and accountability in the face of adversity,” Owens said. “I’m more than the events that took place on that cruise ship that night.”

He apologized to the victim and her family.

But the victim told the judge that her boyfriend of more than six years had been angry and verbally abusive toward her in the past, and was so violent that night that she thought she was going to die.

The aftereffects, she said through sobs, have ruined her life.

She never returned to the apartment they shared and instead moved back home with her parents. She switched jobs and has been unable to sleep. She said she can no longer trust.

“Seven years together, all the good times and love are worthless,” she said. “The man I loved tried to kill me.”

The woman told Stickman she wondered if she deserved it.

“I’m constantly wondering, ‘Did I cause this? Why would he hurt me?’ ‘If the person I loved the most wanted me dead, then maybe I should be.’”

The woman said Owens’ plea provided some closure because “he can’t deny the betrayal and devastation he caused.”

Throughout the proceeding, her body shook uncontrollably.

Before imposing sentence, Stickman spoke at length about domestic violence and how serious a crime it is.

“There’s no excuse for this conduct. Period,” Stickman told Owens. “I’m concerned, though. Today I heard excuses.”

“I find her to be credible,” the judge continued. “I find your story to be incredible. Period. I don’t buy it.”

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)