FWC arrests 3 men accused of stealing from commercial lobster traps in Keys
Three men face several felony charges after state and federal wildlife officers say they caught them stealing from almost a dozen commercial lobster traps in the Florida Keys this week.
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A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission airplane crew patrolling Cudjoe Key in the Lower Keys on Sunday watched as the men, who were on a commercial fishing boat, pulled other vessels’ traps and stole the spiny lobsters inside, the agency said.
Commercial anglers are required to have the colors of the buoys attached to their traps and displayed on their vessels visible from the water and air. Arielle Callender, an FWC spokeswoman, said the pilot knew the three men were stealing lobsters from other crews’ traps because the colors displayed on their boat did not match the buoys attached to the traps that they were pulling.
On Monday, FWC investigators obtained a search warrant for the vessel, and FWC and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officers conducted surveillance on the men near Johnston Key, Callender said. Again, they were pulling up traps and removing lobsters for nearly an hour, said Callender.
The officers stopped the boat and escorted it to shore, where the men were arrested.
Osmany Gonzalez Garcia, 33, from Lehigh Acres; Sergio La Rosa Cabrera, 35, of Hialeah; and 59-year-old Pedro Cabrera, also from Lehigh Acres, face a total of 28 felony trap-molestation counts and 31 misdemeanors counts, including possessing steel traps in state waters and improper display of the buoy colors.
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Trap-molestation is a third-degree felony in Florida, carrying a maximum prison sentence of five years and a $5,000 fine.
They were booked into Monroe County’s main jail on Stock Island near Key West. As of Wednesday, Gonzalez Garcia and Sergio Cabrera were no longer in jail. Pedro Cabrera was still locked up on a $77,000 bond.
“The behavior displayed by these men is simply unacceptable,” Capt. Adam Garrison, FWC’s Monroe County area supervisor, said in a statement “Our commercial fishermen are an integral part of the community and local economy. Trap robbing is an insult to legitimate fishermen and will not be tolerated.”
The FWC said reports of trap theft can be called into 888-404-3922 or made online at MyFWC.com/WildlifeAlert.
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