The United States Attorney's Office
Southern District of Columbia
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 2, 2009
KEYS COMMERCIAL LOBSTER OPERATION RESULTS IN CONVICTIONS,
SEIZURES AND FORFEITURES
R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Eddie McKissick, Resident Agent in Charge, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Hal Robbins, Special Agent in Charge,
NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement, Southeast Division, Commander Dave Score,
Superintendent of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, and Major Jeff Ardelean, Regional
Commander, Special Protection Area, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC),
announced that on April 1, 2009, in federal District Court in Key West, a jury convicted the last
remaining defendant, Michael Delph, 39, of Key West, for illegally harvesting lobsters from
artificial habitat placed in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS). According to evidence presented at trial, Delph was directly involved in the harvest of 922 whole lobster, as
part of a conspiracy that illegally took 1,197 lobster on the opening day of Florida’s commercial
lobster season in August 2008, and stockpiled approximately 1,700 pounds of wrung lobster tail
harvested during the closed season which was intended for sale after opening day. Delph is
scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Jose E. Martinez on June 10, 2009. Delph
faces a possible term of imprisonment on the conspiracy conviction of up to five years in prison.
The five other co-conspirators in the Indictment were David W. Dreifort, 41, Denise D.
Dreifort, 48, both of Cudjoe Key, Robert H. Hammer, 46, of Miami, Sean N. Reyngoudt, 25, of
Summerland Key, and John R. Niles, 50, of Labelle. They were charged with conspiring to harvest
large quantities of spiny lobster within the FKNMS, from illegally installed artificial habitat, and in violation of applicable bag limits, for commercial sale in violation of the federal Lacey Act, all in
violation of the federal conspiracy statute, Title 18, United States Code, Section 371. The five codefendants
had all previously pled guilty. Judge Martinez set sentencing for Hammer and
Reyngoudt for June 1, and the Dreiforts are both scheduled to be sentenced on June 2, 2009. Defendant Niles, the first to enter a guilty plea in this matter, cooperated in the case, and testified
against his co-defendant Delph. In recognition of his acceptance of responsibility, minor role, and
assistance in the case, Niles was sentenced to a term of probation of one year.
The FKNMS is a 2,900 square nautical mile area that surrounds the entire archipelago of the
Florida Keys and includes the productive waters of Florida Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic
Ocean. It encompasses coastal and oceanic waters, and the submerged lands thereunder,
surrounding the Florida Keys, and extending westward to include the Tortugas islands, but
excluding Dry Tortugas National Park. The FKNMS supports rich biological communities with extensive conservation, recreational, commercial, ecological, historical, research, educational, and
aesthetic values of national significance.
Marine Sanctuary regulations prohibit any alterations of, or construction on the seabed of the
FKNMS, as part of the effort to preserve the marine environment. In addition, the Florida
Administrative Code, Chapter 68B, which apply to the FKNMS, prohibits anyone from harvesting
any spiny lobster from artificial habitat. Artificial habitat is defined as "any material placed in the waters of the state that is reasonably suited to providing cover and habitat for spiny lobster.. ."
Other parts of Chapter 68B prohibit any person from commercially harvesting, attempting to
harvest, or having in their possession, regardless of where taken, any spiny lobster during the
closed season. The commercial season runs from August 6 through March 31 of the following year.
An exception exists for the annual lobster sport mini-season. Those holding appropriate licenses
and endorsements to commercially dive for lobster are limited to 250 lobster per day.
NOAA and FWS Special Agents became aware of a group constructing illegal artificial lobster
habitat, often referred to informally as "casitas" or "condos" in the lower Keys. According to
testimony at trial, agents tracked a boat on July 28, 2008, owned by David Dreifort, as it traveled
entirely within the waters of the Sanctuary, harvesting spiny lobsters out of season. Subsequently
the lobsters were placed in a freezer at a lower Keys residence, which held about 650 pounds of
previously harvested, frozen tails. The pattern of stock piling and freezing lobsters taken ahead of
the legal season led agents to dub the case "Operation Freezer Burn." Officers returned to the GPS
logged sites within the FKNMS and found each site held artificial habitats. The divers also found
freshly wrung spiny lobster heads.
On opening day of the annual commercial lobster season, August 6, 2008, a multi-agency team
executed a search warrant at the Dreifort residence, and executed five seizure warrants, taking
custody of boats, vehicles, and a trailer used in the criminal violations. Over 1,700 pounds of
frozen lobster tails, representing more than 1,000 times the legal bag limit for a mini-season sport
dive were seized by agents. The defendants, with the exception of Reyngoudt, were intercepted as
they returned from a morning harvesting trip in the FKNMS, during which more than 922 lobsters
were illegally harvested. Part of the harvest effort was recorded by a surveillance aircraft, and
shown to the jury during the Delph trial. The jury also heard a statement recorded by agents on
August 6, during which Delph admitted to diving on illegal habitat and harvesting an excessive
number of lobsters that day. He further admitted that he had contacted David Dreifort before the
season to offer his services as a lobster diver, in anticipation of being paid for his involvement, and
confessed to having been involved in the same activity on multiple occasions during the prior
year’s open season.
In conjunction with the criminal investigation and conviction of the Dreiforts for illegally placing
and maintaining the artificial habitat and illegally harvesting lobsters out of season in the FKNMS,
the federal government brought a civil suit against the Dreiforts under the National Marine
Sanctuaries Act (NMSA),seeking compensation for costs and damages incurred as a result of
natural resource injuries caused by the Dreiforts’ artificial habitats within the Sanctuary. On March
20, 2009, the Justice Department lodged a civil consent decree in U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of Florida on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), encompassing a settlement of the federal government’s civil claims against the Dreiforts.
Under the terms of the consent decree, the Dreiforts must sell two properties in the Florida Keys,
including their residence at Cudjoe Key which was the staging ground for the criminal conduct, to
reimburse the agency's costs and pay damages in the case. The Dreiforts will pay NOAA the
proceeds from the sale of the houses, up to a maximum of $1.1 million. The money recovered as
damages will be used by NOAA to remove more than 1500 of the casitas that have been illegally
placed in the FKNMS over the years.
U.S. Attorney Acosta stated, "South Florida is home to a unique and fragile marine environment
that must be preserved. The U.S. Attorney's Office is committed to helping protect these natural
habitats from poachers and others who seek to profit at the expense of our scarce natural
resources."
"The intentional dumping of debris into the sanctuary destroys valuable marine resources,
undermines efforts to establish a sustainable fishery, and cheats fishermen who are trying to make
a legal living," said CDR Dave Score, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary superintendent. "This
settlement represents a huge win for the ecosystem, the lobster fishing industry in the Keys, and
the taxpayers."
Mr. Acosta commended the coordinated investigative efforts of the NOAA Office for Enforcement, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the
personnel of the National Marine Fisheries Service Restoration Center and the Damage Assessment& Resource Protection Office of the National Marine Sanctuary Program which brought the matter
to a successful conclusion. The criminal case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney
Thomas Watts-FitzGerald, in coordination with Steven Keller of the Environmental Enforcement
Section of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, DC, which is prosecuting the civil claims.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for
the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and
information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at
http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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