ABALONE POACHER GETS 9 MONTHS, FINE
Published on August 16, 2001
© 2001- The Press
Democrat
Mary Callahan
A San Francisco man charged in a North Coast abalone
poaching case was sentenced Wednesday to nine months in jail and
fined $10,000.
Sau Van Pham also was placed on probation for three years and
ordered to stay at least 100 yards away from the coast, prosecutor
Brooke Halsey said.
Pham admitted taking up to 150 abalone in a year, well
above the annual limit of 100, Halsey said.
Halsey requested a nine-month jail term, but Judge Elaine
Watters cited Pham's otherwise clean record in meting out a more
lenient sentence.
Pham and four co-defendants were arrested last year during a
sweep of suspected poachers after a three-month undercover
investigation.
Authorities said Pham and another diver sold abalone
to a San Francisco man, Chingpin Ou, who in turn sold it to two
brothers who charged private customers as much as $85 a piece.
Because of declining stocks up and down the coast, it is
illegal to catch abalone for commercial purposes. Sport
fishermen are limited to three a day and 100 a year.
Pham and Ou, to be sentenced next week, each pleaded guilty
to a felony conspiracy charge.
The three remaining defendants are slated for trial Sept. 5.
Keywords: FISHING CRIME SENTENCE
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