13 face 101 wildlife, drug charges

A state undercover operation nets men accused of illegally selling snook, jewfish and alligators, and other crimes.

By ROBIN MITCHELL

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 24, 2000

It began with a tip of illegal deer hunting in the heart of the Big Cypress Swamp and quickly spread to a netherworld dealing in ill-gotten alligators and phony fish filets.

Thirteen men were arrested Wednesday in the first undercover operation of the year-old Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. They face felony and misdemeanor charges ranging from the illegal sale of jewfish and a loggerhead turtle to possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

More arrests are expected in "Operation Alliance," so named because the new commission is made up of two former state agencies, said Lt. Col. Randy Hopkins, the commission's assistant director of law enforcement.

Hopkins said agents seized 270 pounds of snook filets and a like amount of jewfish intended for sale at restaurants as grouper. Though the poundage seems small in the huge world of seafood sales, Hopkins said it was all that was needed to bring charges.

He said the commission expects additional arrests, including those who bought the illegally taken snook and jewfish filets for restaurant use. "We'll do interviews with these suspects and see what comes of it," he added.

"It was a sizable snook operation," Hopkins said. "They were caught illegally in a closed season and sold as clean filet, as grouper. The same scenario with jewfish, caught illegally."

"The investigation led us into the alligator arena," Hopkins said. "Some of the suspects were obtaining alligators illegally in the wild and selling them to alligator farms ... the farms were laundering the illegal alligators."

"This is indicative of what we feel our charge is, protecting the environment," Hopkins said.

The 13 men are in jail and charged with 101 violations of wildlife, marine fish and drug laws, 43 of which are felonies. Eight are being held in jails in Collier County, one in Glades County, another in Franklin County. Three men were arrested by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fish aboard a shrimp boat in the gulf.

Four suspects in the first series of the operation's arrests are still at large.

The felony charges include 37 counts of possession and/or sale of alligators, sale of cannabis (marijuana) and possession of cannabis with intent to sell. Misdemeanor charges include illegal possession and/or sale of stone crabs, gag grouper, snook, jewfish, alligators, a loggerhead sea turtle, cannabis and drug paraphernalia.

Of those arrested, Hopkins said "some are commercial fishermen, some opportunists." As for the drug charges, "We consider that bycatch," he said.

The investigation began about two years ago, before the July 1999 merger of the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission and Marine Fisheries Commission into the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, on a tip of illegal deer hunting.

"But once you do your probe, you may find your information is old," said Hopkins. Though the deer hunting tip didn't pan out, "we discovered they were targeting marine fish. That led to other things. It didn't happen overnight."

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