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Watermen sentenced
Crowder, Quade given jail time for rockfish scheme
Friday, May 1, 2009
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Federal prosecutors report that a judge sentenced two watermen this week to serve prison sentences from their guilty pleas to violations detected in a probe of rockfish harvesting in the Chesapeake Bay.
Thomas L. Crowder Jr., 40, of St. Mary's was sentenced to 15 months in custody, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office. Crowder must pay a $5,000 fine and $96,250 in restitution, according to the prosecutors' spokesman, during three years of supervised release.
Crowder said the day after Tuesday's court proceeding, "It is what it is, and we'll deal with the consequences. Life will continue."
Crowder, the chief of the 2nd District Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad, added, "There's been an outpouring of support from the community on my behalf, and I appreciate that."
In addition on Tuesday, the prosecutors' spokesperson said, Charles Quade, 55, of Churchton was sentenced to five months of incarceration to be followed by five months' home detention with electronic monitoring as part of three years of supervised release. Quade was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and $15,000 in restitution.
Plea agreements entered last February by the two watermen and other suspects included a statement of facts that they falsely recorded the amount of rockfish they harvested from 2003 to 2007 in the bay and surrounding waterways. The court records alleged that their false reporting of catches was helped by Golden Eye Seafood in Tall Timbers and its proprietor Robert Lumpkins, who was charged with related violations last month in the federal probe of $2.1 million in illegal transactions.
Federal prosecutors alleged that Crowder, Quade and other watermen who have pleaded guilty in the case 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, prosecutors report, the watermen could get more state tags to catch more fish.
According to the plea agreements, prosecutors report, the estimated fair market value of the fish involved in the illegal transactions was $956,200 worth with Crowder, and $151,500 worth with Quade.
