Tag Archives: presidential pardon

New Bedford: The Codfather should get a Trump Pardon

Anyone who really knows Carlos Rafael and all the good he’s done will most likely agree with me that he’s worthy of a presidential pardon. He was convicted on federal charges that he bilked fishing regulations to increase his profits. Anyone who really knows Carlos Rafael understands the thousands of local families who depended on the capital and labor that his fleet created, sustaining generations of fishermen, workers’ salaries, the fish house jobholders, lumpers, ice-packers, fuel suppliers,,, by Phil Paleologos, >click to read< 08:22

Maine lobsterman grateful for presidential pardon

A well respected midcoast fisherman who was granted clemency Monday by President Obama for a drug crime he committed more than 30 years ago says he’s pleased to close that chapter of his life. “It gives me a sense of forgiveness, is what it does,” Robert S. ‘Bob’ Baines said Wednesday morning in the driveway of his South Thomaston home, taking a break from getting a pair of motorcycles ready for winter storage. In 1986, Baines was convicted in a marijuana distribution conspiracy, netting him a six-year prison sentence. He declined Wednesday to go into detail about the crime, but said it’s a chapter he’s pleased to close out now. Dave Cousens, president of the MLA, said Wednesday he asked Baines to join 25 years ago, and that Baines has been an important part of the organization ever since. Read the rest of the story here 10:40