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THREE PLEAD GUILTY IN ABALONE CASE TRIO
COULD FACE 3 YEARS IN PRISON
Published on December 18, 1997
© 1997-
The Press Democrat
BYLINE: Clark Mason
Staff
Writer
PAGE: B1
Three men charged in connection with a large North Coast
abalone poaching operation pleaded guilty Wednesday in
Sonoma County Superior Court to felony charges of conspiring
to violate Fish and Game laws.
The trio -- Chris N. Doan, 29, of Cupertino; Jason
Diep, 30, of El Monte; and Loi Boa Diep, 29, of Rosemead --
admitted they conspired to buy sport abalone and sell
it for commercial purposes.
Each could face a possible sentence of three years in state
prison.
Judge Lawrence Antolini, who will sentence the trio
March 5, noted Sonoma County takes abalone cases ``very
seriously.''
While commercial harvesting of abalone is
allowed south of San Francisco, on the North Coast it can only
be harvested by sports divers in a strictly regulated fashion
limiting them to four abalone per day -- and only at
certain times of the year. Scuba diving is prohibited.
Officials say poaching pressure has been enormous
because the abalone are considered an expensive
delicacy and they typically wholesale at $20 to $25 apiece on
the black market.
Prosecutors said the case against the trio grew out of
investigation that led to the Sonoma County conviction of
abalone poacher Van Howard Johnson -- known as ``Ho
Jo'' -- who was given a three-year prison term in 1996 for his
part as mastermind of large illegal operation that supposedly
raked in more than $1 million.
Deputy District Attorney Brooke Halsey Jr. said
information was developed that identified the Dieps as large
dealers of illegal abalone.
An undercover sting operation was set up by Fish and
Game wardens, one of whom posed as a sports diver willing to
provide the Dieps with large amounts of illegally harvested
abalone from the North Coast.
The abalone used in the sting actually came from
seized and forfeited abalone and some that had been
used in scientific experiments.
Authorities described Doan as a middleman between the
Dieps and Fish and Game undercover investigators.
Warden Richard Vincent said that from April to the end
of May when the men were arrested, they made six purchases
from him ranging from 80 pounds to 400 pounds of
abalone at a time, paying more than $6,700 for one
load.
Defense attorneys Joe Stogner and Isidoor Bornstein
acknowledged that the Dieps bought the abalone from the
undercover warden and were willing to admit they made a
mistake.
But they said the alleged scope of the abalone
poaching operation has been blown out of proportion and the
small company owned by the Dieps involved the legitimate
import and export of abalone and sea cucumbers to
Canada and Asia.
Initially, officials said 1,700 abalone valued
at $234,000 were seized at the defendants' homes and business.
A game warden later testified at the preliminary hearing that
3,000 abalone were seized, but more than half of them
could have been from Mexico.
Prosecutor Halsey said federal officials are looking
into some of the international transactions made by the Dieps
and could pursue charges on the federal level.
During the undercover operation, wardens said one of
the defendants bragged about buying a whole boatload of
illegally seized abalone for $45,000 in the Bodega Bay
area.
But defense attorney Stogner said some of the
representations made to the undercover warden ``were not true.
They tried to make themselves seem bigger in the business than
they were.''
Infobox: This article also appeared on The Press
Democrat Home page (http://www.pressdemo.com).
Keywords: FISHING CRIME
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