Golden Eye Seafood LLC and owner, Robert Lumpkins of St. Mary’s County, pleaded guilty June 11, to conspiring to violate and violating the Lacey Act, by falsely recording the amount and weight of striped bass, also known as rockfish, that were harvested by local fisherman and checked-in through Golden Eye from 2003 to 2007, announced United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein and John C. Cruden, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.
According to his plea agreement, from at least 2003 to the present, Lumpkins was a fish wholesaler, doing business from his residence in Piney Point, under the name Golden Eye Seafood. Lumpkins, through, Golden Eye, acted as a commercial striped bass check-in station for the state of Maryland. Lumpkins admitted that on numerous occasions from 2003 to 2007, he falsely recorded the amount of striped bass that fisherman harvested and failed to record some of the striped bass that was caught or recorded a lower weight of striped bass than was actually caught. Lumpkins and the fisherman would also falsely inflate the actual number of fish harvested. By under-reporting the weight of fish harvested, and over-reporting the number of fish taken, the records would make it appear that the fishermen had failed to reach the maximum poundage quota for the year, but had nonetheless run out of tags. As a result, the state would issue additional tags that could be used by the fishermen allowing them to catch striped bass above their maximum poundage quota amount. Lumpkins and Golden Eye shipped the majority of the fish to purchasers in Maryland and in other states. Lumpkins also purchased fish that were outside the legal size limit from an undercover agent and sold those fish to purchasers in New York, Virginia, and California.
Golden Eye Seafood faces a maximum fine of $500,000 on each of the three counts to which it pleaded guilty and Robert Lumpkins faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of the four counts to which he pleaded guilty. U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte has scheduled the sentencing hearing for Sept. 22 and 23.