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Miami skipper in lobster poaching case can’t fish for two years¶
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PalmBeachPost.com¶
Miami skipper in lobster poaching case can’t fish for two years¶
By BRITTANY LEVINE¶
The Miami Herald¶
Thursday, June 11, 2009¶
Two more of the six defendants in one of the largest lobster-poaching cases in the Florida Keys were sentenced Wednesday.¶
Robert Hammer, a well-known Miami charter boat captain and principal figure in the case, was sentenced to two months in prison, six months of house arrest and placed on two years of probation. During his probation, the 45-year-old is banned from fishing commercially or for pleasure near South Florida waters.¶
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Sean Reyngoudt of Summerland Key, an aspiring professional kite surfer with a prosthetic leg who played a minor role in the poaching, got four years of probation. He, too, was banned from fishing.¶
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The two were charged in a federal grand jury indictment last year with the illegal harvest of about 6,000 lobsters from man-made habitats called casitas placed in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The lobsters were stored in a freezer at the million-dollar home of the scheme’s kingfish, David Dreifort, 41.¶
Dreifort, a commercial fisherman — who Hammer called the “largest lobster poacher in the Keys” in court documents — and his wife, Denise, are scheduled for sentencing July 17. Both could face a maximum of five years in jail and a $250,000 fine.¶
Using casitas to harvest lobsters dirties the ocean and could have a negative effect on lobster migration and reproduction, wildlife experts said.¶
Hammer said he plans never to fish again. He has sold his boat and will work for his wife’s company, Humane Animal Removal, after serving his time. He will most likely serve the prison time at a South Florida facility close to his wife and children.¶
Reyngoudt, 25, said getting involved with Dreifort was “the worst choice I’ve ever made in my life” and plans to continue kite surfing.¶
The first of five to plead guilty, John Niles, 50, of LaBelle, was spared jail time in return for his cooperation. In April, Michael Delph, 39, of Key West — son of legendary charter boat captain Ralph Delph and the only one to http://palmbeachpost.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=Miami+skipper+in+lobster+p… 6/11/2009¶
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Miami skipper in lobster poaching case can’t fish for two years plead not guilty — was sentenced to 10 months in prison.¶
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The six were arrested in August on opening day of lobster season after federal agents caught all, minus Reyngoudt, returning to Dreifort’s Cudjoe Key home with 922 lobsters. Agents called the case Operation Freezer Burn.¶
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