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SF MAN GETS PRISON SENTENCE FOR ABALONE
POACHING
Published on October 8, 2002
© 2002- The
Press Democrat
BYLINE: STEVE HART
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
PAGE: B3
A San Francisco man was sentenced Monday to three years in
prison for his role in an abalone poaching ring that
targeted the Sonoma County coast.
Duong A. Luu, 47, had told undercover agents he could
supply them with 20 to 30 abalone each week. Deputy
District Attorney Brooke Halsey said the sport limit for
abalone is 24 per year.
Luu pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in August.
Luu and his co-conspirators sold abalone on the
Bay Area black market for up to $85 each, according to
undercover agents for the state Department of Fish and Game.
Agents testified they watched members of the ring diving for
abalone at Salt Point State Park and other spots along
the Sonoma and Mendocino coasts.
Halsey said Luu should go to prison because commercial
poachers destroy the marine environment.
``The damage they do to our coast lasts generations,''
he told Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Elaine Watters.
Halsey said Luu was a leader of the ring and he has two
prior misdemeanor convictions for violating the state's fish
and game laws.
But Luu's attorney, Martin Woods, said his client
shouldn't be sent to prison because he doesn't have any prior
felony convictions and he has a family to support.
Judge Watters said a probation report shows Luu feels
no remorse for what he did.
Two Oakland men, Kin Wah Gee, 43, and Kim Keung Gee,
44, were found guilty in the same case last month. They
haven't been sentenced. Keywords: FISHING CRIME
SENTENCE
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