Prosecutors allege business aided rockfish violations

Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009

Plea agreements entered last Thursday by St. Mary's watermen accused of rockfish harvesting violations included a statement of facts alleging their false reporting of catches was helped by a Tall Timbers seafood business.

No charges have been reported by prosecutors against Golden Eye Seafood or its proprietor, Robert Lumpkins, through the ongoing investigation that so far has led to guilty pleas from defendants including the five watermen appearing in court last week.

The scope of the investigation has targeted rockfish harvesting and distribution activities from 2003 and 2007, and a U.S. Justice Department official confirmed in August 2007 that authorities acted on search warrants earlier that month at Golden Eye Seafood and a Piney Point residence. Online court filings from the investigation specifically listed searches of five boats — ranging in size from a 15-foot Carolina skiff to a 35-foot wooden vessel.

Lumpkins could not be reached for comment Tuesday in calls to his home and business.

On Thursday, federal prosecutors report, two St. Mary's watermen and three other defendants pleaded guilty to catching more than their limit of rockfish, in an investigation of $2.1 million in illegal transactions.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland announced that Thomas L. Crowder Jr., 40, of Leonardtown; John W. Dean, 53, of Scotland; Keith A. Collins, 57, of Deale; Charles Quade, 55, of Churchton; and Thomas L. Hallock, 48, of Catharpin, Va., admitted through their plea agreements to falsely recording the amount of rockfish they harvested from 2003 to 2007 in the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding waterways.

A statement of facts furnished this week by the prosecutors' office in the cases against Crowder, Quade, Hallock and Collins alleges that they falsely recorded the amount of rockfish they harvested during the five-year period, with "help" from Golden Eye Seafood.

In each year, federal prosecutors report, all five defendants in court last week had failed to record some of the rockfish they caught, recorded a lower weight of rockfish than was actually caught and falsely inflated on their records the actual number of fish harvested.

"By under-reporting the weight of fish harvested and over-reporting the number of fish taken," prosecutors reported, "the records would make it appear that the defendants had failed to reach the maximum poundage quota for the year, but had nonetheless run out of tags. 

As a result, the state issued additional tags that could be used by the defendants allowing them to catch striped bass above their maximum poundage quota amount."

A statement of facts in Quade's case states that "in each year, Quade would record, and Lumpkins would certify on Quade's and others' Maryland permit allocation cards, a lower weight of striped bass than Quade actually caught."

The statement of facts filed in Hallock's case states that Lumpkins also would certify on Hallock's permit allocation card a lower weight of rockfish than Hallock caught.

The documents state that Crowder also got assistance from another unidentified check-in station operator, that Hallock got false receipts for his fish at Cannon Seafood in Washington, D.C., and that Collins also got help from a business identified as Woodfields Seafood in falsely recording the amount of rockfish that he caught.

Prosecutors report that Cannon's owner and an employee at the business face sentencing in May on their guilty pleas to felony violations from the investigation.

According to the five watermen's plea agreements, prosecutors report, the estimated fair market value of the fish involved in the illegal transactions was $956,285 worth with Crowder, between $600,000 and $750,000 with Collins, $342,210 with Hallock, $151,507 with Quade and $100,267 with Dean.

All five men face sentencing hearings in April.

jwharton@somdnews.com