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ACCUSED POACHER TO OFFICIAL: `IT'S ONLY
ABALONE'
Published on May 3, 1996
© 1996- The
Press Democrat
BYLINE: Bony
Saludes
Staff Writer
PAGE: B2
A San Diego fisherman accused of masterminding a huge
abalone poaching operation off the Sonoma County coast
didn't think the crime was a big deal when he was caught, a
state Fish and Game warden said Thursday.
``It's only abalone,'' Van Howard ``Hojo''
Johnson told him, testified Fish and Game Capt. Michael Wade.
`There's so many abalone out there and I'm putting
these people to work.''
The statements came out on the eve of Johnson's trial
during a defense motion to suppress the admissions. The
testimony was taken outside the jury's presence, and the
motion was denied by Judge Elaine Watters.
Johnson, 27, is on trial along with Santa Rosa diver
August Angelo Vichi, 37, for operating what state officials
say was the biggest abalone poaching ring in the
history of the state.
Members of the organization illegally plucked 20 tons
of abalone, valued at $1 million, off the Sonoma County
coast over a year's time and shipped them by air to Johnson in
San Diego.
Johnson, a commercial fisherman and buyer, allegedly
paid several divers to pick and ship him the mollusk
delicacies before the operation was smashed in late 1994. The
abalone was processed in a house in Cazadero and later
at a house in Santa Rosa before shipment.
Ten other defendants have been convicted. All have been
sentenced, except one, Michael Kagley of Santa Rosa,
co-organizer of the operation who turned informant. He is to
be sentenced after testifying against Johnson and Vichi.
Vichi and Johnson face three years in state prison if
convicted.
Thursday saw the selection of a jury of 10 women and
two men. Opening statements and testimony will begin Monday.
During the hearing on the motion, Wade said he followed
a shipment of abalone from the San Francisco Airport to
San Diego Airport on Sept. 27, 1994, and approached Johnson as
Johnson was about to pick up the box at the loading dock.
``I told him I was making a routine inspection and
asked him what he had in the box and he said, `sports-caught
abalone,''' Wade said.
Wade said he asked Johnson what he did with the
abalone and he responded, ``Sell it.''
Wade said he then arrested Johnson for ``purchase and
sales'' of abalone.
He said Johnson was friendly and cooperative,
volunteering information about the operation on the plane trip
to the Bay Area and agreeing to give a taped statement at the
Sonoma County Sheriff's Office that night.
Judge Watters rejected defense lawyer Geoffrey Dunham's
argument the statements were illegally obtained and should be
suppressed.
Infobox: shorter version ran in final edition
Keywords: FISHING
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