Federal fishery agents — cited in an Inspector General's report for repeatedly "blurring" the line between their administrative law enforcement work and criminal orientation — forced their way into the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction after hours and without authorization in 2006, when the agency was building a case against the waterfront business.
A Gloucester Police report traces how an NOAA agent heading a squad sought out and found an unlocked rear door, opened it and then let the squad in the front door.
The agent was part of an NOAA team attempting to assemble evidence for a major case aimed at shutting the auction down.
Word of the 2006 police report surfaced this week after Scott Zinser, inspector general of the federal Department of Commerce, issued a separate report off an investigation spurred largely by advocates for the auction about alleged wrongful policing by NOAA agents.