San Diego
The owner of San Diego’s largest wholesale seafood outlet was fined $5,000 Monday for his part in a scheme to smuggle commercial rock crabs into the United States from Mexico.
William Sanders Sr., owner of Crab Co., also was placed on three years’ probation and ordered by U.S. District Judge William B. Enright to spend the first three months of that probation in a halfway house.
His 20-year-old son, William Jr., was given a year of probation for his role in the scheme, while the two commercial fishermen who admitted smuggling the crabs were placed on probation and ordered to perform community service.
Two 18-foot boats owned by the fishermen, Robert Burnley, 42, of Bonita and Kevin Farrer, 30, of Pacific Beach were also seized by the government as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.
The defendants admitted violating the federal Lacey Act, which protects against the unlawful importation and distribution of fish and wildlife. Each also surrendered their personal vehicles to the government as part of the sentencing deal.
All four pleaded guilty earlier this month to bypassing U.S. Customs inspectors July 21, 1987, when they brought 10 barrels of rock crabs into the country. Inspection of such crabs intended for human consumption is required to help detect and eliminate dead ones that could have disease-carrying bacteria.
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