Mr. Nelson graduated from the United States Coast Guard Academy in 1997 and started his career as an officer in the United States Coast Guard. He served as the Operations Officer on a Coast Guard buoy tender that sailed throughout the Great Lakes. He then was assigned as the Commanding Officer of a patrol vessel in Sabine Pass, Texas. There he conducted law enforcement patrols enforcing environmental, fishing and safety of life at sea rules and regulations. He also performed numerous Search and Rescue missions to save the lives of mariners in peril at sea. Mr. Nelson then graduated law school from the College of William and Mary Marshall-Wythe School of Law in 2004 and served at Coast Guard Headquarters where he practiced disability, estate planning, mariner credentialling and international law. Mr. Nelson focused on cases involving the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships and Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing. Mr. Nelson joined the United States Department of Justice in 2008 and has focused his career on prosecuting cases involving the intentional discharge of pollution from ships. Mr. Nelson has also prosecuted a variety of pollution, endangered species and worker safety cases.

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