KENT NARROWS, MD. — A Grasonville charter captain had a couple of unusual paying customers recently, they were both undercover cops intent on busting up the illegal charter boat business which flourishes in the region.
Tag: Maryland Natural Resources Police.
Joseph Bruce Janda Jr., 28, of Wittman, had his commercial license permanently revoked a year ago by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Over a decade, Janda has been charged more than 60 times and been found guilty on numerous occasions for poaching oysters, illegal striped bass fishing and harvesting undersized crabs. In addition, he has been convicted of fishing without a license and fishing on a suspended license.
In 2011, Janda was cited for two crabbing violations within a two-year period worth 35 points on his licenses, which triggered a revocation hearing by an administrative law judge.
In writing last Friday, Judge J. Owen Wise rejected Janda’s appeal, calling him a “chronic offender” who had accumulated 415 days of suspensions.
Officers posing as buyers arranged to purchase five bushels of oysters in untagged bags for $300. Upon completion of the transaction in WorcesterCounty, Jester was charged by NRP, with assistance from the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. The cash and oysters were seized and the oysters were sold to Southern Connection Seafood for $175.