They couldn’t wait a few hours for lobster season to start. Now they’re on probation.
The two-day lobster miniseason, an annual event that brings thousands of people to the Florida Keys to catch their share of tasty crustaceans, begins when the clock strikes midnight the second to the last Wednesday every July.
Three men from Homestead were unwilling to wait that long in the hours before the 2018 season started. Now, they have to pay the penalty.
Patrolling officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission caught them in a small boat sneaking around the mangroves near Whale Harbor in Islamorada around 8:30 p.m. July 24, 2018, catching lobster.
Police found a bag in the water containing 16 lobsters, two of which were undersized, according to the Monroe County State Attorney’s Office. The bag was attached to the boat by fishing line.
Monroe County Judge Sharon Hamilton sentenced Luis Vergel, 72, Rafael Andino, 48, and Angel Betancourt, 48, to one year of probation last week. Vergel and Andino pleaded guilty Dec. 10 to two counts of possessing undersized lobsters and one count of possessing lobsters during closed season.
Betancourt had already pleaded no contest to the same charges, said Larry Kahn, spokesman for the Monroe State Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors Jorge Jaile and Paul Vargo had sought a 100-day jail sentence for the three, but Hamilton opted for probation instead. However, if the men are caught violating fisheries laws in the Keys during their probation, they will be locked up in county jail for 40 days, Kahn said.
They are also banned from entering Monroe County waters while on probation. Hamilton fined them each $500 and is making them pay $283 in court costs, $75 for prosecution costs and $50 a month in supervision fees, according to the State Attorney’s Office.
Vergel has a history of fisheries violations and arrests in the Keys going back to 1995, Kahn said. In 2012, a judge sentenced him to 60 days in county jail for catching an undersized sponge.
This story was originally published December 16, 2019 at 12:59 PM.
