Tag Archives: Operation Broken Glass
How Elver Eels Became America’s Hottest Black-Market Item
In the dark of the night, a group of fishermen huddles around a net. They’re gathered at a riverbank in Ellsworth, Maine, collecting one of the most lucrative seafood in the world: elvers, or baby glass eels. A 5-gallon bucket brimming with these translucent creatures is worth $32,500—higher than prices for gold. “It’s like Christmas!” exclaims Rick Sibley, one of the fishermen. “I can’t wait to see what’s in that net.” This would all come crashing down in 2014. Beginning in 2011, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Office of Law Enforcement—along with a long list of local, state, and federal agencies launched Operation Broken Glass, 15 minute video, >click to read< 12:12
Maine Men Sentenced for Illegally Trafficking American Eels
Today, William Sheldon was sentenced in federal district court in Portland, Maine, to six months in prison followed by three years supervised release for trafficking juvenile American eels, also called “elvers” or “glass eels,” in violation of the Lacey Act,, Sheldon was also ordered to pay a fine of $10,000, forfeit $33,200 in lieu of a truck he used during the crime, and may not possess a license to purchase or export elvers as a special condition of his supervised release. Also sentenced today for elver trafficking offenses was Timothy Lewis, who received a sentence of six months in prison followed by three years supervised release, with the special condition that he too may not possess a license to purchase or export elvers. Lewis was also ordered to pay a $2500 fine. Thomas Reno was also sentenced today to one year probation. >click to read<08:57
Maine men sentenced to probation, fines for trafficking baby eels
Two Maine men were sentenced Thursday to serve federal probation and to pay fines for their roles in an interstate baby eel trafficking ring. Michael Squillace, 40, of Woolwich, and John Pinkham, 51, of Bath, each pleaded guilty last summer to trafficking in hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of illegally harvested baby eels, or elvers. They are among 19 men charged in federal court in three different states with illegally catching, selling and transporting more,,, >click to read< 21:00
Maine Harvester Enters Guilty Plea, Maine Dealers Sentenced for Illegally Trafficking American Eels
Yarann Im was sentenced to six months imprisonment and three years of supervised release and Thomas Choi was sentenced to six months in prison with a fine of $25,000 today for trafficking juvenile American eels (also called “elvers” or “glass eels”) in violation of the Lacey Act, following a hearing in federal district court in Portland, Maine. The sentence was announced by Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. This sentencing follows the entry of a guilty plea on December 12, 2017, by Albert Cray,,, click here to read the press release 18:51
Overfishing Operation Nets Three Eel Traffickers
Three men pleaded guilty Thursday to trafficking juvenile American eels — a species at risk of overfishing as harvesters try to meet demand in the East Asian markets.,, “Operation Broken Glass” has resulted in 18 guilty pleas in Maine, Virginia and South Carolina. The defendants are responsible collectively for the illegally trafficking of more than $4.5 million worth of elvers. William Sheldon, Timothy Lewis, and Charles Good joined the list on Thursday, pleading guilty before a federal judge in Portland, Maine, to violations of the Lacey Act. click here to read the story 14:53
As eels grow in value, US government clamps down on poaching
Law enforcement authorities have launched a crackdown on unlicensed eel fishermen and illicit sales along the East Coast.,, In Maine, more than 400 licensed fishermen make their living fishing for elvers in rivers such as the Penobscot in Brewer and the Passagassawakeag in Belfast every spring. They say law enforcement is vital to protecting the eels and the volatile industry. Randy Bushey, of Steuben, has been fishing for elvers since 1993. He said he saw his income balloon from as little as $5,000 per year in the 1990s to more than $350,000 in 2012. He said tighter quotas mean he’s earning less these days, and in the most recent season he made about $57,000. “I’ve seen the best, and I’ve seen the worst,” Steuben said. “I want to see it preserved. I want to see it straightened out.” click here to read the story 08:16
Inside the Multi-million-Dollar World of Eel Trafficking
The alleged kingpin of one of the biggest domestic wildlife smuggling operations ever to hit the East Coast is exactly where you’d expect to find him on a rainy evening in early May: firmly planted in a swivel chair at a big green metal desk inside his renovated Quonset hut on Foster Street, in Ellsworth, Maine. At this post Bill Sheldon waits day and night for fishermen to come and fill his bowl with writhing masses of baby eels. The 72-year-old fisherman wears glasses, a blue flannel shirt, jeans, duck boots, and a brown L.L. Bean baseball cap. His cell phone goes quack, quack, quack when it rings. The sign above his head reads, “Buying Glass Eels Here,” with the day’s market price: $1,250 per pound. (so much more about the fishery in this article than “trafficking”) click here to read the story 09:26
How Maine came to play a central role in an international eel smuggling scheme
Years after officials launched an investigation into baby eel poaching on the East Coast, the first of several men to plead guilty to participating in the wildlife trafficking ring was sentenced last week in a federal courtroom in Maine. Michael Bryant, 40, a former Baileyville resident who now lives in West Yarmouth, Massachusetts, is one of more than a dozen men who the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service says poached thousands of pounds of the baby eels, also known as elvers or “glass” eels, from 2011 through 2014. Since 2011, elvers on average have fetched around $1,500 per pound for fishermen, and netted more than $4 million total for the 12 convicted poachers who have pleaded guilty to federal charges in South Carolina, Virginia and Maine. Maine found itself at the center of a criminal enterprise that illegally netted elvers along the Atlantic seaboard, where most states ban their harvesting, and then shipped the eels overseas to feed East Asia’s voracious seafood appetite, according to investigators. click here to read the story 14:43
Elver dealer indicted on charges of buying, selling illegally caught eels
Elver buyer William Sheldon, of Woolwich, faces a seven-count federal indictment on charges alleging he dealt in illegally harvested juvenile eels over a four-year period beginning in 2011. Sitting in Portland, a grand jury on March 1 charged Sheldon with one count of conspiracy, three counts of illegal trafficking in wildlife and three counts of “false labeling” under the federal Lacey Act. If convicted, Sheldon faces up to five years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000 on each count. On Monday, Augusta attorney Walter McKee said his client would enter not guilty pleas at his appearance before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge John H. Rich III currently scheduled for March 30. The indictments arise out of a long-running federal and multistate investigation into illegal elver harvesting — called “Operation Broken Glass.” On April 30, 2014, federal wildlife agents and Maine Marine Patrol officers raided two rooms at Jasper’s Motel on High Street rented by Sheldon to execute a search warrant looking for evidence that he had taken part in the purchase and sale of illegally harvested elvers through his company Kennebec Glass Eels. Read the story here 13:07
“Operation Broken Glass” – Three Men Plead Guilty for Illegally Harvesting and Selling American Eels
Three individuals pleaded guilty in federal district court in Charleston, South Carolina, to trafficking more than $740,000 worth of juvenile American eels aka “elvers” or “glass eels,” in violation of the Lacey Act. Harry Wertan, Jr., Mark Weihe and Jay James each pleaded guilty to selling or transporting elvers in interstate commerce, which they had harvested illegally, or knew had been harvested illegally, in South Carolina. The pleas were the result of “Operation Broken Glass,” a multi-jurisdiction U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) investigation into the illegal trafficking of American eels. To date, the investigation has resulted in guilty pleas for ten individuals whose combined conduct resulted in the illegal trafficking of more than $2.6 million worth of elvers. Operation Broken Glass was conducted by the USFWS and the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section in collaboration with 17 state and federal agency’s. Read the rest here 08:28
From Poacher to Dealer: Feds Investigate Illegal Elver Trade
A federal investigation into the illegal buying and selling of glass eels is picking up speed and may soon result in indictments of dozens of people. In recent weeks, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has led raids in Maine and in other states along the eastern seaboard as part of Operation Broken Glass. As Jay Field reports, the investigation is focusing,,, Listen, and read more here 20:08
