State Game Wardens Hope to Pinch Lobster Thieves

Lobster season in Ventura County attracts a lot of sharks.

Not the great white kind, but those sneaky, spineless people who steal the tasty crustaceans from traps set by commercial fishermen off the Channel Islands.

“It’s a real common claim each season that up to 50% of their catch is stolen . . . which may or may not be true, but there is no doubt that there is a lot of theft,” said Lt. Martin Maytorena of the state Department of Fish and Game.

Officials don’t keep stats on such losses--mostly because it’s nearly impossible to track what gets stolen underwater--but fishermen say they know they’ve been robbed when gadgets on their traps have been tampered with and daily catch rates suddenly decrease.

The offenders are unlicensed scuba divers and fishermen who deal in the black market, Maytorena said.

Just last week a trapper said he saw two divers dump several lobsters back into the water off Carpinteria after he spotted them near a commercial trap.

In an attempt to slow the theft, officials have done surveillance in prime trapping spots and sting operations with the cooperation of a few fishermen.

A warden marks several live lobsters and places them inside traps that are resubmerged. At the end of a day, the official inspects the catches of residents who return to shore with lobsters to see if anyone took the bait.

Maytorena didn’t know how often the stings work but said they occasionally net a thief or two. The penalties include having your fishing gear seized, six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

“The irony of all this is that most people wouldn’t consider picking a fisherman’s pocket, but that’s exactly what they are doing when they steal from the trap because these guys are trying to make a living,” Maytorena said.

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Cops in the Lone Star state busted a wanted man from Port Hueneme last week after finding him in a Fort Worth motel with his 17-year-old pregnant lover.

Humberto Duran had been wanted on a $250,000 warrant out of Ventura County for allegedly kidnapping, imprisoning and torturing the 27-year-old mother of his two young children, said Port Hueneme Police Sgt. Ken Dobbe.

For two weeks in late September and early October, Duran allegedly held his ex-girlfriend hostage at his condo, where she was pistol-whipped, beaten with a wooden dowel and choked into unconsciousness. Duran also allegedly put an unloaded gun in her mouth and pulled the trigger and repeatedly threatened to kill her.

The sergeant said Duran was angry at the victim because he had to spend a couple of days in jail this past summer the last time she called police during a fight.

He has been charged with 14 felony counts, and the sergeant is flying to Texas this week to bring Duran home. The 25-year-old man also may face charges in connection with the current girlfriend, who is a minor from Port Hueneme.

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Aren’t moms the ones who tell us to clean up our messes?

The California Highway Patrol recently cited a Lompoc man for leaving the scene of a crash after he allegedly lost control of his car, flipped onto the railroad tracks and then hitchhiked home before authorities arrived.

The incident occurred earlier this month when William Mathena, 27, allegedly fell asleep at the wheel of his 1994 Hyundai while driving south on the Ventura Freeway near Bates Road, north of Ventura.

Authorities said he struck a traffic sign while leaving the roadway and landed upside down on a Union Pacific line--where a train did in fact clip part of the car after he had exited.

Police were concerned when they arrived and found an insulin kit in the crashed car and no victims. Authorities brought out a scent-sniffing dog and a chopper and searched the area with no luck.

Mathena was located at his home several hours later. He was uninjured and apparently still very tired.

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Holly J. Wolcott can be reached at 653-7581 or at holly.wolcott@latimes.com.