December 2, 2013 — The following was released by the Southern District of Florida U.S. Attorney's Office:
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Otha Easley, Acting Special Agent in Charge, NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement, and Edward Grace, Deputy Assistant Director U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement, announce that Eric Pedersen, 51, and Serdan Ercan, 43, both formerly of Grassy Key, were sentenced today in federal District Court in Key West for conspiring to harvest, transport, and sell wildlife, including Live Rock and attached invertebrates, sea fans, bonnethead sharks, lemon sharks, and nurse sharks, with a fair market value in excess of $350.00, knowing the marine life were taken, possessed, transported, sold, and intended to be sold in violation of the laws and regulations of the State of Florida, contrary to the federal Lacey Act, Title 16, United States Code, Sections 3372(a)(2)(A), (a)(4), 3373(d)(1) and (2), and Title 18, United States Code, Section 554, all in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371.
Pedersen was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jose E. Martinez to 24 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release and ordered to pay a fine of $10,000. Additionally, Pedersen was barred by the Court from any employment during his supervised release that involves the possession, display, transportation, exhibition, purchase, or sale of wildlife. Pedersen was also the subject of an Order of Forfeiture which forfeited the vessel used in perpetrating the illegal harvesting activities. Ercan received a sentence of one year and a day in prison, followed by one year of supervised release and a fine of $6,000.
Read the full press release at the U.S. Department of Justice