Press Release
TWO KEYS RESIDENTS PLEAD GUILTY TO CONSPIRACY TO ILLEGALLY HARVEST SPINY LOBSTERS
October 7, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jeffrey H. Sloman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Hal Robbins, Special Agent in Charge, NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement, Southeast Division, Eddie McKissick, Resident Agent in Charge, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS), and Sean Morton, Superintendent of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS), announced that John Buckheim, 23, and Nick Demauro, 23, of Baypoint in the Florida Keys, pled guilty yesterday in federal District Court in Key West to conspiring to illegally harvest spiny lobsters from artificial habitat placed in the FKNMS and various federal wildlife refuges. Their convictions arose from an on-going anti-poaching investigation, called Operation Frost Bite.
Buckheim and Demauro entered their guilty pleas before U.S. District Court Judge James Lawrence King, who indicated sentencing would occur in approximately 70 days in Key West. The defendants each face maximum statutory sentences of up to five years in prison, to be followed by a term of supervised release and fines. Plea agreements executed by the defendants also required their immediate surrender of the navigation equipment and location data for all the artificial habitat sites. Their pleas will also result in the forfeiture of a vehicle and a vessel, or cash equivalent, used by the defendants to facilitate the criminal conduct.
According to the Indictment, a Joint Factual statement filed with the Court at the time of the plea, and other court records, the two defendants were involved in the illegal harvest of more than 8,500 pounds of spiny lobster over six months, beginning in the early summer of 2008.
FKNMS regulations implemented in 1977, at Title 15, CFR §922.163(a)(3), prohibit any alterations of, or construction on the seabed of the Sanctuary. Constructing, placing, or abandoning any structure, material, or other matter on the seabed is prohibited as part of the effort to preserve the marine environment. As part of their plea, defendants admitted constructing, placing and using approximately 450 of the artificial structures, and that defendant Buckheim sunk a vessel in October 2008 as part of their effort to place artificial habitat in the FKNMS.
Florida Administrative Code, Section 68B-24.006, which in part addresses gear that may be employed in harvesting lobster, and “Prohibited Devices,” states “ No person shall harvest any spiny lobster from artificial habitat.” The regulation defines artificial habitat as “any material placed in the waters of the state that is reasonably suited to providing cover and habitat for spiny lobster. Such material may be constructed of, but is not limited to, wood, metal, fiberglass, concrete, or plastic, or any combination thereof, and may be fabricated for this specific purpose or for some other purpose....” Other regulations in Chapter 68B prohibit any person from commercially harvesting, attempting to harvest, or having in their possession, regardless of where taken, any spiny lobster during the closed season. The sanctioned commercial season runs from August 6 through March 31 of the following year. An exception exists for the annual lobster sport mini-season.
According to Court records, the defendants made more than 32 trips to illegally harvest lobster by diving on artificial habitat. The defendants received payments made by check to Buckheim of over $45,000 from a Key West fish house for the illegally harvested spiny lobster. The illegal lobster, including a substantial amount of frozen lobster tails harvested in advance of the legal season, had a retail value exceeding $155,000. In order to reduce the risk that their activities would be detected, the defendants displayed a commercial dive placard on Buckheim’s vessel during the legitimate dive season although they were not entitled to use the commercial dive endorsement under Florida law. The defendants acquired the placard and accompanying licenses by paying $4,000 to another individual who legitimately held the licenses and endorsements required under Florida law. However, a materially false “lease” agreement was filed with State authorities claiming that Buckheim’s vessel was leased to the license-holder and concealed the fact that the vessel was never leased and out and was intended to be employed by the defendants in the illegal scheme.
During the course of the investigation, federal agents utilizing Global Positioning System (GPS) trackers reconstructed harvesting trips conducted by the defendants. Federal agents, assisted by Metro-Dade Police Department Underwater Recovery Unit, sampled locations of interest on the tracklines and had a 100% correlation between the defendants’ dive sites and the location of artificial habitat. Additionally, the divers verified and documented the absence of any natural lobster habitat in the vicinity of the illegal structures.
The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) is a 2,800 square nautical mile area that surrounds the entire archipelago of the Florida Keys and includes the productive waters of Florida Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic Ocean. The FKNMS encompasses coastal and oceanic waters, and the submerged lands thereunder, surrounding the Florida Keys, and extending westward to include the Tortugas islands, but excluding Dry Tortugas National Park.
Mr. Sloman commended the coordinated investigative efforts of the NOAA Office for Law Enforcement, the FWS, Office of Law Enforcement, and the technical assistance of the crew of the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission vessel Peter Gladding, a United States Coast Guard Dolphin helicopter aircrew, the FWS Southeast Regional Dive Team, and the Miami-Dade Police Department Underwater Recovery Unit for their assistance in this matter. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Watts-FitzGerald.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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