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Seller guilty in rockfish scheme
Lumpkins pleads to falsifying catches
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
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Tall Timbers seafood seller Robert Lumpkins pleaded guilty Thursday to participating in a scheme to help watermen falsify the amount and weight of striped bass, also known as rockfish, that were checked in through his seafood company.
Lumpkins' company, Golden Eye Seafood, faces a maximum fine of $500,000 on three counts of falsification, and Robert Lumpkins faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of the four counts to which he pleaded guilty.
The court has scheduled the sentencing hearing for Sept. 22 and 23.
From 2003 to 2007, Lumpkins and Golden Eye acted as a commercial striped bass check-in station for the state of Maryland.
Lumpkins admitted that on numerous occasions in that period, he falsely recorded the amount of striped bass that fisherman harvested and failed to record some of the striped bass that was caught or recorded a lower weight of striped bass than was actually caught. Lumpkins and the fisherman would also falsely inflate the actual number of fish harvested.
By under-reporting the weight of fish harvested, and over-reporting the number of fish taken, the records would make it appear that the fishermen had failed to reach the maximum poundage quota for the year, but had nonetheless run out of tags. As a result, the state would issue additional tags that could be used by the fishermen allowing them to catch striped bass above their maximum poundage quota amount.
Lumpkins and Golden Eye shipped the majority of the fish to purchasers in Maryland and in other states. Lumpkins also purchased fish that were outside the legal size limit from an undercover agent and sold those fish to purchasers in New York, Virginia, and California.
Additionally, John Evans, a commercial fisherman who operated in St. Mary's County and the surrounding waters of the Chesapeake Bay, was charged with overfishing striped bass. Two other fishermen, Joseph Peter Nelson Jr. of Great Mills and his father, Joseph Peter Nelson, of Avenue, have been indicted in the District of Maryland and are awaiting trial.
As a result of the investigation and prosecution, two fish wholesalers and a total of 15 individuals have been charged for illegally harvesting and under-reporting their catch of striped bass. Eleven individuals and two wholesale companies have pleaded guilty.
