ABALONE POACHER FINED $15,000, GIVEN JAIL TIME
Published on December 6, 2003
© 2003- The Press Democrat
BYLINE: Paul Payne
PAGE: B3
COLUMN: Around the Empire
A diver convicted of selling abalone caught in Sonoma County waters has been fined $15,000 and ordered to serve 10 days in county jail, prosecutors said Friday. Kent True Nguyen pled no contest Thursday in Superior Court to a misdemeanor count of taking abalone for commercial purposes, prosecutors said.
An investigation showed Nguyen took at least 84 abalone per season in 2001 and 2002 from an area near Fort Ross, the prosecutors said. The limit at the time was 24 per season. Nguyen was followed to different locations in the Bay Area where he was seen weighing and packaging the abalone, apparently for sale, which is a violation of state law, prosecutors said. Superior Court Judge Gary Nadler dismissed two counts of altering ``punch cards,'' used to record the number of abalone caught each season. Nadler imposed the fine and jail time, and also put Nguyen on five years of probation. Nguyen will be barred from fishing during the probation period, prosecutors said.
Keywords: FISHING SENTENCE CRIME
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