Greg Duckworth became a fisherman after earning a business management degree from the University of Rhode Island. He participated in NMFS observer programs before becoming the subject of NMFS Office of Law Enforcement actions. He made the following statement describing his experience in meeting with investigators from the Office of the Inspector General.
Terry Mulvey, Jerry Carvalho and I met with Office of Inspector General investigators for over five hours, from 1 p.m.- 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday.
The investigators we met were Gregory Sebben and Jennifer Nobles. They were very professional and caring individuals who seemed genuinely interested in what has happened. I felt we were dealing with honest people who cared. I never ever got that feeling when dealing with NMFS enforcement or OLE.
Terry and I told our stories of being victims of excessive fines — issued for what we perceived to be malicious and selective prosecution. We enumerated what we believed to be wrong, and provided documentation to support our claims. I also provided the investigators with the affidavit of Administrative Law Judge Jeffie Massey. The investigators tasked us with a "homework assignment" of drafting a time line of events and weaving thedocumentation into it.
In my case, the NOAA General Counsel Office for Enforcement and Litigation (GCEL) employee who negotiated in bad faith, issued a million dollar fine, withheld exculpatory evidence, violated rules of professional conduct, filed false legal motions, violated the constitution and lied to me outright, was not allowed to be put on the stand at my hearing. NOAA GCEL employees are exempt from being questioned about their actions. Little wonder why things are so bad. I could add violation of due process to my list of grievances. But that should be obvious to everyone who has read the affidavit of Administrative Law Judge Massey.
I attended the Gloucester vigil last night. It was a great feeling to be among intelligent, caring people who understand the corruption and lack of fairness in the present federal fisheries enforcement system. I usually have to explain to people how this dysfunctional system operates to destroy fishermen and their families, It was refreshing, for once, to not have to do that. The people who spoke understood how wrong the present enforcement scheme is.
I hope all the officials who have engaged in wrongdoing will be held accountable for their actions.
I would fully recommend that anyone with a “story of abuse” should talk to the Inspector General’s team.
Mr. Duckworth can be contacted at truetwistreap@yahoo.com
The Office of the Inspector General can be reached at NOAAFisheriesReview@oig.doc.gov or 202-482-4661.
Affidavit of former Judge Jeffie Massey
Certificate of Recognition given by the Commerce Department to Mr. Duckworth
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