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TON OF SONOMA COUNTY ABALONE SEIZED IN
POACHING STING
Published on May 30, 1997
© 1997- The
Press Democrat
BYLINE: Bony
Saludes
Staff Writer
PAGE: A1
State fish and game wardens climaxed a year-long sting
operation Thursday by breaking up a large, Sonoma County-based
abalone poaching ring with arrests in Los Angeles and
Santa Clara counties.
Officials seized about 1.25 tons of abalone meat
with a market value of $234,600 -- the largest single haul
ever -- while arresting the three suspects, Jason Diep and Loi
Bao Diep of Los Angeles and Chris Doan of Cupertino, said
Brian Hunter, fish and game regional manager.
They are charged in Sonoma County with felony conspiracy to
violate fish and game laws and are being held on $100,000 bail
each. Hunter said the illegal operation was similar to one
broken up in 1994 in Sonoma County, which was run by a group
of scuba divers who illegally plucked about 20 tons of
abalone worth $1 million from the Sonoma County coast
over a year's time.
The latest bust came after game wardens were informed
divers were taking abalone in Sonoma County and selling
it for commercial purposes. Hunter said the probe identified
the Dieps and Doan as principals in the operation and they
became the objects of a sting.
``The suspects dealt in large amounts of abalone
which they shipped to markets in Eastern Asia,'' Hunter said.
``They had a high demand for the abalone, asking for
500 pounds a week.''
Game wardens sold Sonoma County abalone to the
suspects five times in April as part of the sting, Hunter
said. Abalone utilized in the sales was collected by
fish and game wardens for scientific study or seized in
previous illegal operations.
Officers, armed with arrest and search warrants, made
the first arrests in Los Angeles after making an undercover
sale of 300 abalone for $6,000 to two individuals,
Hunter said.
Search warrants were served at residences and
commercial fish businesses in Los Angeles and the San Jose
area that were known associates of the suspects, he said.
Besides seizing the 1.25 tons of meat -- or 1,700
abalone in the shell weighing 3-1/2 tons -- officials
also seized $20,000 in cash.
Fish and Game Lt. Mark Lucero said the probe is
continuing into the operation and more arrests are
anticipated.
District Attorney Mike Mullins said he filed a
five-count complaint accusing the Dieps, who are brothers, and
Doan with felony conspiracy and violating state fish and game
laws.
Between April 1 and April 28, the complaint charges,
the suspects unlawfully possessed abalone, took
abalone from a closed district for commercial purposes,
tried to buy sports abalone and possessed abalone
removed from the shell.
The North Coast is closed to commercial taking of
abalone, but poachers have been harvesting the
abalone in profit-making ventures based in the Bay Area
and Southern California, officials said.
It is a misdemeanor to violate fish and game laws
governing the taking of abalone, but Sonoma County
prosecutors, particularly Deputy District Attorney Brooke
Halsey Jr., have obtained a number of convictions by charging
groups of poachers with conspiracy, which is a felony. Halsey
was in Southern California assisting game wardens seize
contraband and make the arrests on Thursday.
Conspiracy is punishable by up to three years in
prison, while abalone poaching, while a misdemeanor,
can bring fines of up to $40,000.
A two-year prosecution of what was touted as the
biggest abalone poaching operation in the state's
history was completed last September.
A dozen poachers, mostly Sonoma County scuba divers,
were arrested in September 1994 and accused of taking about 20
tons of abalone, valued at more than $1 million, from a
5-mile stretch of the Sonoma County coast in and around Fort
Ross over a year's time.
Van Howard ``Hojo'' Johnson, a 28-year-old San Diego
commercial fisherman, bought most of the abalone, then
sold it to more lucrative East Coast and Asian markets,
according to state game wardens.
Michael Kagley of Santa Rosa, one of the masterminds of
the operation, later became an undercover informant and helped
investigators gather evidence resulting in grand jury
indictments against himself and the others.
He testified at the trials of Johnson and another key
figure, August Angelo Vichi, a Santa Rosa scuba diver, both of
whom were convicted and sentenced to three years in prison.
Except for Kagley, the other defendants got probation,
some local jail time and were ordered to make payments ranging
from $10,000 to $30,000 each into the North Coast
Abalone Restoration Fund.
Sonoma County judges in the past two years have ordered
convicted poachers to pay more than $250,000 in restitution to
the restoration fund.
Infobox: This article also appeared on The Press
Democrat Home page (http://www.pressdemo.com).
Keywords: OCEAN FISHING CRIME
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