The Boating Forum - Dirty Fisherman gets his...

Feds bust major Chesapeake poaching operation

April, 24 2009, 09:55 AM A Virginia waterman was sentenced in U.S. District Court this week to one year and one day in prison, fined $4,000 and ordered to make $40,000 in restitution for his part in the largest striped bass poaching case in Chesapeake Bay history.
Thomas Hallock, 48, of Catharpin, Va., was ordered to surrender to marshals May 22 to begin serving his sentence, the Baltimore Sun reports. A month after his release, Hallock must pay $300 a month for 36 months, after which the court will work out the terms for the remainder of his restitution.
Hallock admitted to poaching more than 68,442 pounds of striped bass over four years, and that 10,474 pounds were taken out of season during a period when the fish spawn, according to the report.
Federal prosecutors also charged a St. Mary's County waterman and fish wholesaler and his business with falsifying catch records and illegally selling fish to buyers from New York to California.
Golden Eye Seafood and owner Robert Lumpkins were charged with four violations of the Lacey Act, which prohibits the sale of illegally caught fish across state lines, the newspaper reports.
Prosecutors charged John Struven Evans, 44, with falsifying his catch records, with the help of Golden Eye, to receive additional tags used to mark commercially caught fish.
Click here for the full article. (http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/outdoors/bal-sp.poaching23apr23,0,4821235.story)

And more to come. Only thing I don't understand is why they get to keep the boats and equipment.

1 year and a fine....:roll
People will continue to violate game laws until there is real punishment associated with doing so.
Confiscate his boat, ban him from ever having any kind of fishing and hunting license again, and make him serve at least 3 years in prison without the possibility of early release.
For the wholesalers who helped him unload the illegal catch, revoke their wholesale license for 5 years, seize their entire inventory and donate it to the soup kitchens.
While it sounds harsh, if this is what could happen if someone participated in operations like this, you'd see less of it going on.

I don't understand the fine. How much a pound did he get for $68k pounds of fish? Even if it was only $3/pound, that's a lot more than $40,000.

I'm sure he is bitchin that they are screwing him over, but really. The guy probably cleared about half a mil on that theft.

This has been big news in Maryland since the bust first happened.

This sentence, while some think it's light, is orders of magnitude stronger than the usual "slap on the hand" that most commercial poachers get here. The state gov't is completely unwilling (or unable) to do anything to control the issue. The only reason this guy is going to jail is it was prosecuted as a federal offense.

I would expect that the IRS will get involved since that had to have been unreported income with the intent to evade taxes for at least the past 4 years...
Does the IRS follow these guys?

And more to come. Only thing I don't understand is why they get to keep the boats and equipment.


Maybe so they can go fishing -- they are fishermen. Without the ability to earn a living those fines don't get paid, they end up on state-aid ...

For you northern guys, here's the counterpart for Florida. These guys got busted with 6,000 lobster tails out of season this past summer. They were just convicted.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida-keys/story/980069.html