Centreville, MD -- Joseph Walker Benton, 21, of 512 Dulin Clark Rd. is charged in Queen Anne's County District Court with oyster poaching charges, according to a press release issued by the Natural Resources Police.
Benton is is charged with removing oysters from an oyster sanctuary, possessing oysters on a vessel more than two hours after sunset, and two counts of catching oysters without a commercial license.
NRP officers received a tip from a waterman that a person was poaching oysters from the Sawmill Oyster Sanctuary located in Prospect Bay at night on March 18. Officers set up a surveillance detail on the sanctuary and saw a boat not displaying navigational lights dredging for oysters.
Benton was identified as the operator of the vessel as it docked in the Kent Narrows harbor. Officers seized five and a half bushels of oysters from the vessel and returned them to the sanctuary.
A trial has been set for May 4 at 1:15 p.m. in district court.
No comments:
Post a Comment