All Crime, All The Time – News and Commentary on the Criminal Class
Schuman was charged with removing crabs from a pot of another, theft, recreational crabbing after hours, failing to have a recreational license, failing to have a registration in his possession, recreational possession of a female crab and operating without proper running lights.
Jenne was charged with theft and recreational crabbing after hours.
Kevin Steven Tarleton Sr., 45, Steven Kevin Tarleton, 21, and Kevin Steven Tarleton Jr., 22, received citations for using illegal harvesting equipment in Broad Creek, a tributary of the Choptank River. Officers observed them on Feb. 27 using a hand scrape in an area designated for hand tonging. The maximum penalty is a $1,000 fine and/or one year in jail.
Acting on a tip, an officer checked the beach at Mountain Point at the tip of the island and found corn washed on shore near an offshore stationary hunting blind. Officers kept the area under surveillance and on Jan. 24 – the last day of duck season – found five hunters in the blind and in an anchored Jon boat. A large quantity of shelled corn was found in the boat launching area
NRP officers were called to the scene. A search of the vehicle turned up a loaded shotgun with the safety off, shotgun ammunition and a spotlight.
Kurt Andrew Simmons, 29, of Centreville, was charged by NRP with having a loaded firearm in a vehicle, casting rays (jacklighting), hunting deer without a license, hunting out of season, deer hunting at night and hunting while intoxicated. Queen Anne’s County charged him with driving under the influence.
Chinese Pirate Poacher Caught 2nd time in week; Crisfield commercial waterman Ryan Brittingham busted for poaching in oyster sanctuary – Ryan Christopher Brittingham, 25, of Crisfield, was charged with illegally harvesting wild oysters in an oyster sanctuary after officers conducting surveillance watched four vessels enter the protected area and remove 36 ½ bushels of oysters. The oysters were seized and returned to the sanctuary.
CHINESE NEW YEAR POACHERS WERE HAULING IN THE BIG ONES
HAMPTON, VA. — Two Chinese men who police believe were out to snatch every large fish they could, regardless of legal limits, rules or species – in order to sell whole large fish to various Chinese restaurants for the Chinese New Year on Feb. 19th, now face serious felony charges.
TANGIER SOUND, MD. — Natural Resources Police report that eight men in Somerset, Allegany and Queen Anne’s County were charged this week by Maryland Natural Resources Police officers with oyster poaching and hunting violations.
In Somerset County, five watermen were cited Thursday morning for illegally harvesting oysters from protected state waters.
Pirate Poachers of the Bay
Over the past year, THE CHESAPEAKE TODAY has been highlighting the arrests of outlaw watermen in the Maryland and Virginia waters of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.
Readers who have been following these violations and the tracking of the court appearances have been learning that, for most cases, the legal repercussions of these infractions have been very minor or non-existent.
Pirate Poachers of the Chesapeake: New raids on oyster sanctuaries; profiles of culprits reveal they are simply criminals in every respect – The lawless and piratical instincts of outlaw watermen of the Chesapeake Bay may very well be inherited from the vicious and bloodthirsty pirates of the 17th and 18th centuries and certainly dates back to the 19th and 20th century oyster wars.
Oyster pirates fired cannon and rifles at Maryland Oyster Police and in 1879 Virginia sent a fleet carrying armed militia to capture and sink Maryland oyster pirates that had invaded Virginia waters in the dead of night.
Two years ago, Maryland’s General Assembly established oyster sanctuaries in various locations in Maryland waters in an attempt to reverse a one hundred year trend of diminishing bivalves.
In spite of the new laws setting aside areas of oysters for replenishment, a determined segment of the Maryland watermen and seafood industry has repeatedly violated the boundaries of the sanctuaries
During the hunts, Harding and Harward placed apples to bait the black bears, then led the hunters to those locations. For example, on October 25, 2009, Harding directed the undercover officers to the Raven Rock area near Friendsville, showing them where the bears would likely show up the next day. The following day, two hunters – one of them an undercover officer – taking part in a guided hunt led by Harding and Harward each killed a black bear over bait. The undercover officer shot his bear from a spot suggested by Harding, overlooking a pile of illegal bait. Harward also violated the terms of his hunting permit by remaining out of visual contact when the other hunter shot his bear. The bears killed by the hunter and the undercover officer were subsequently taken to a cooler located in the building where Harding conducted his business. Harding took photographs of the bears and the hunters, while Harward was recording the event with a video camera. Inside the cooler where the bear carcasses and skins were placed, the undercover officers saw five 25-gallon plastic garbage cans full of apple skins and cores, consistent with the apple pieces in the bait pile seen by the undercover officers.