Two Bay Point men were sentenced to a year in prison on charges that they conspired to poach lobster, a judge ruled Monday, closing the last chapter on two illegal lobster harvesting cases that snared eight people.
John Buckheim, 23, and Nick Demauro, 24, both apologized to federal Judge James Lawrence King, their friends, family and wildlife officers.
“I acknowledge and take full responsibility for what I did,” Buckheim said. “I was young and stupid and I’m not implying that I’m old or wise now, only that I’m heading in the right direction. … I’m sorry for this major mistake and you won’t find me in this position again.”
Demauro told the judge he had “taken everything for granted.”
Both men pleaded guilty in October to harvesting lobsters by diving on illegal artificial habitats, called casitas, primarily in the Content Keys area north of Big Pine Key, from July 2008 through October 2008, according to court documents.
The judge granted U.S. Attorney Thomas Watts-Fitzgerald’s request to delay their prison sentence 100 days so both men can continue their work removing as many as 600 casitas from Florida Keys waters. The judge ordered both to surrender to corrections officials on May 12.
The judge also allowed both men to resume legal commercial fishing immediately upon their release from prison, despite the prosecutor’s recommendation that both be prohibited during the two years of supervision that is to follow their release.
Miami defense attorneys Bruce Alter and Steven Potolsky urged the judge to consider the defendants’ ages, their clean criminal histories and their desire to make amends as mitigating factors at sentencing, but the prosecutor was unmoved, painting the men as astute fishermen who knew the risks involved.
“These were not youths who stumbled into this,” the prosecutor told the judge, describing taped conversations between the two men, and the hundreds of casitas they fished.
Buckheim and Demauro worked for David and Denise Dreifort of Cudjoe Key at one time. The latter were sentenced in July for spearheading a large lobster poaching ring that involved four other people, in a separate but related case. David Dreifort was sentenced to 2¬½ years in prison in July. His wife was sentenced to seven months in prison. Prosecutors found thousands of lobsters at one of their homes on Lookdown Lane last year.
Buckheim and Demauro began their own illegal operation after their stint with the Dreiforts, and they sold lobster to a Stock Island seafood company in 32 separate incidents for a total of $45,974, records say. The company has not been charged in the case, the prosecutor said.
Both men were warned by David Dreifort to cease their operation after he was indicted, but they continued, the prosecutor said. Federal agents began visual and electronic surveillance of Buckheim and Demauro during the larger investigation that involved the Dreiforts, reports say.
Both pleaded guilty as part of a plea agreement in which prosecutors dropped two charges that could have added at least 10 years to their sentences.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has issued executive orders to protect Florida’s snook, bonefish and tarpon fisheries from further harm caused by the recent prolonged cold weather in the state, which has caused widespread saltwater fish kills. The FWC has received numerous reports from the public and is taking action to address the conservation needs of affected marine fisheries. The orders also will allow people to legally dispose of dead fish in the water and on the shore.
One of the executive orders temporarily extends closed fishing seasons for snook statewide until September. It also establishes temporary statewide closed seasons for bonefish and tarpon until April because of the prolonged natural cold weather event that caused significant, widespread mortality of saltwater fish in Florida. The other order temporarily suspends certain saltwater fishing regulations to allow people to collect and dispose of dead fish killed by the cold weather.
“A proactive, precautionary approach is warranted to preserve our valuable snook, bonefish and tarpon resources, which are among Florida’s premier game fish species,” said FWC Chairman Rodney Barreto. “Extending the snook closed season and temporarily closing bonefish and tarpon fishing will protect surviving snook that spawn in the spring and will give our research scientists time to evaluate the extent of damage that was done to snook, bonefish and tarpon stocks during the unusual cold-weather period we recently experienced in Florida.”
Snook season currently is closed in Florida under regular FWC rules, and there are also regular closed snook seasons that occur in the summer. However, the FWC executive order extends the statewide snook closed seasons continuously through Aug. 31 and provides that no person may harvest or possess snook in state and federal waters off Florida during this period unless the fishery is opened sooner or the closure is extended by subsequent order.
The order also establishes a temporary prohibition on the harvest and possession of bonefish and tarpon from state and federal waters off Florida through March 31, unless these fisheries are opened sooner or the closures are extended by subsequent order. The FWC executive order for the snook, bonefish and tarpon closed seasons takes effect at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 16.
The other FWC executive order temporarily removes specific harvest regulations for all dead saltwater fish of any species that have died as a result of prolonged exposure to cold weather in Florida waters. It also modifies general methods of taking dead saltwater fish from Florida’s shoreline and from the water to allow the collection of saltwater fish by hand, cast net, dip net or seine.
All people taking dead saltwater fish under the provisions of this order may not sell, trade or consume such fish, and the dead fish must immediately be disposed of in compliance with local safety, health and sanitation requirements for such disposal.
In addition, all people taking dead fish under the provisions of this order are not required to possess a saltwater fishing license, and all fish taken under the provisions of this executive order shall be those that have died as a result of prolonged exposure to cold weather.
This FWC executive order takes effect at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 16 and will expire at 12:01 a.m. on Feb. 1, unless it is repealed sooner or extended by subsequent order.
Jury selection began Monday and open arguments are expected today in the lobster trap molesting trial of three Key West residents. Harry Bethel Jr. faces two felony counts of lobster trap molesting for allegedly pulling fishermens traps near Mayland Shoal in the Atlantic Ocean off Sugarloaf Key in January 2008. Bethel, Lawrence Pinder, 59, and M. Shamus Davis, 30, rejected a plea agreement that called for a year in prison.Bethel is the namesake of a former Key West city commissioner and current Key West Bight Board chairman.
The annual “Delicate Balance of Nature” free weekly lecture series will begin its 19th season at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 13 at the Visitor Center inside John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, Mile Marker 102.5 ocean side.”The topics range from pythons and native Keys snakes, to birds of the Keys, from ethnobotany to the Overseas Heritage Trail history,” Park Manager Pat Wells said.
Park gates will reopen after hours at 7 p.m. and remain open as long as there are seats in the auditorium, which is wheelchair accessible. Seating is limited, so be on time; bring a seat cushion for added comfort. The program is sponsored by Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park. For more information, call Elena Muratori at 305-451-1202.
Florida Keys fisherman who barely survived the awful 2009 season won’t be getting any relief for the first few months of the new year.
On January 1st , a new four-month ban on grouper fishing goes into effect to protect the species during its primary spawning season. Fishery managers and ocean conservancy groups say several types of grouper have been overfished for decades and need protection.
The ban, which will run through April 30 prohibits commercial and recreational fishermen from keeping shallow-water grouper; including gag, black, red and yellowfin that is caught in federal and state Atlantic waters from North Carolina to Key West. The ban also extends into state waters on the Gulf of Mexico side of Monroe County.
“It’s a bitter choice between sustaining the fishery or sustaining someone’s livelihood,” said Andy McDonald, the wholesale manager at the Islamorada Fish Co. “But if you don’t sustain the fishery, there will be no livelihood.”
Commercial and charter boat captains are crying foul over the ban which comes during the island chain’s peak tourist season.
“This couldn’t come at a worse time,” said Andy Griffiths, who owns a three-boat charter operation near Key West. “My business already is off 80 percent because of the economy.”
Charter boat captain Bill Kelly agrees. He said he’s been in business 30 years and 2009 was his worst season.
The ban couldn’t come at a worse time for Keys’ commercial fishermen who are struggling to survive after prices and demand for their two big ticket items, spiny lobster and stone crabs, took sharp downturns in the last couple of years. Many commercial boats had been supplementing their dwindling incomes by catching grouper to stay afloat.
But fishermen won’t be the only ones affected. The price of grouper, already $17.99 per pound at several grocery chain stores in the Keys, could go higher when the supply goes down.
Restorative justice may include casita removalOperation Freezer Burn, a multiyear investigation by state and federal law enforcement agencies, took down two of the most legendary lobster poachers in the Florida Keys, Dave Dreifort, and his wife, Denise. Sentenced to 30 months and seven months respectively, the couple also was ordered to forfeit more than $1 million in property.
In addition to the Dreiforts, the investigation secured four other convictions with sentences ranging from 10 months in prison to a year on parole.A subsequent investigation, dubbed Frost Bite, successfully nabbed two more men who had worked with the Dreiforts in the past, John Buckheim and Nick Demauro, both 23 years old. Each of these men has pleaded guilty and now await their sentences.In the latter case, we have seen something a bit different. Buckheim and Demauro have taken it upon themselves to start undoing some of the harm they have done.In addition to poaching lobsters, much of the case made by the government revolved around illegal lobster habitats, or “casitas.”
These are man-made structures — often old oil drums or discarded appliances — intended to attract lobsters so they can be easily, and illegally, harvested.Tens of thousands of these casitas scattered throughout Florida Keys waters create what many experts consider an ecological disaster, disrupting natural migration patterns and tearing up the sea floor. Removal of the artificial lobster habitats is a major priority for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, but hiring commercial salvors for the job is very expensive.While awaiting their sentencing, Buckheim and Demauro, with the permission of sanctuary officials, have been removing hundreds of the illegally placed casitas from the Gulf of Mexico.
Their motivation is simple: to show they have taken responsibility for their actions and are helping repair the harm they and others have done. And, of course, they hope to curry favor with the judge who will be handing down their sentences.In legal circles, this behavior is referred to as restorative justice.These young men are far from role models, and they certainly should experience consequences for breaking the law. But we cannot help but note that their pre-emptive corrective action contributes to a sense that justice has been better served in this case than in others where the criminals are serving jail time.The debris littering the ocean floor must be removed. It can be done by contractors at considerable taxpayer expense or it can be done at little to no cost by Buckheim and Demauro. We hope the court considers this when considering what sentence best fits the crime — and the public good.–
KEY LARGO — A resurgent Florida Keys Wild Bird Center has hired a hospital coordinator to care for injured and sick birds and found a new location for its medical facility.
“It’s clear sailing from here,” said Bob Gintel, the new chairman of the center’s board of directors.
The turnaround comes just two months after the near closure of the facility due to funding shortfalls. But local media publicity, an infusion of donations and a reorganization of the board has kept the center afloat.
“People on the board stepped up to the plate and we are using the money we collected,” Gintel said. “There was an outpouring of money and we were able to pay off all of the vendors.”
The Ocean Reef Foundation and two other Ocean Reef Club members donated $22,000, an anonymous Islamorada resident donated $25,000 and Gintel himself ponied up $10,000 to get the non-profit rescue center back on an even keel.
In response to licensing and federal flood-plain concerns, the center has signed a one-year lease to use a vacant veterinary clinic at mile marker 94 as the center’s hospital and office. The new facility opened Monday.
However, the gift shop, wild bird educational exhibit and the daily 3:30 p.m. feeding will remain at mile marker 93.6, bayside.
Virginia Bowen, formerly of the now-defunct Folke Peterson Wildlife Center in Broward County, has been hired as the wildlife care manager. Vered Nosrad, past director of that same Broward facility, is the new director of the hospital.
“They bring a licence with them and they are highly regarded by the regulators,” Gintel said. “We’re not going to have all the flaunting of the laws as they did in the past.” [Interesting]
Hospital assistant Staci Dillis will continue to help with surgeries and rehabilitation.
Veterinarians at the Miami Seaquarium are rehabilitating a young manatee found emaciated near his dead mother in the mangroves near Tavernier Creek on Thursday.
The 5- to 6-month old calf, named Kahiki after the Kahiki Harbor subdivision on Plantation Key where it was brought to shore, weighed just 77 pounds — nearly half the weight of a healthy calf.
“That’s near a birth weight almost,” said Seaquarium veterinarian Maya Rodriguez. “It’s because he was not getting any nutrients from the mother.”
The mother appeared to have been struck by a boat propeller and suffered extensive internal damage, according to officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Residents reportedly spotted the mother and calf more than a month ago in marinas and neighborhood canals near Tavernier Creek.
“At that time, it appeared the mother was moving and feeding OK,” FWC manatee biologist John Cassady said. “The decision was to let them go and let the calf get a little bigger so we wouldn’t put the stress of a capture on it.”
On Wednesday, Cassady responded to another sighting of the pair and said he knew the mother was near death. Cassady placed a radio transmitter on the mother’s tail to locate them on Thursday for a rescue.
Wildlife officials followed the signal to the mother’s body, which was rolled over on its back in mangrove roots with the calf still by her side.
“She had died just within a day. If we had not gotten that call [on Wednesday] and put the tag on her, we would’ve never found the calf,” Cassady said.
The calf is receiving daily antibiotic treatments and formula feeding in a heated pool at the Seaquarium, and his health has improved slightly, but he remains in critical condition, Rodriguez said.
If the calf recovers, it would likely stay at the Seaquarium for two years before it is large enough to be released into the wild, Rodriguez added.
The Miami Seaquarium is one of only three critical-care facilities for injured manatees in the state. This is the 10th manatee rescued and brought to the Seaquarium this year.
Residents who spot injured or distressed manatees and other wildlife are encouraged to call the FWC’s wildlife alert hotline at (888) 404-3922.
