East Meadow Fisherman Jailed for Wire Fraud, Falsifying Records

A commercial fisherman from East Meadow was sentenced to one year and one day in prison after pleading guilty to charges of wire fraud and falsifying federal records in connection with a scheme to defraud the United States of overharvested and unreported fluke, according to officials from the U.S. Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division.

The fluke (summer flounder) was being harvested as part of a federal Research Set-Aside Program.

Charles Wertz, Jr., who operates the F/V Norseman, admitted in August that he knowingly submitted 137 falsified dealer reports from May 2009 through December 2011 and 70 falsified fishing logs, known as Fishing Vessel Trip Reports (FVTRs), from May 2011 through December 2011, according to a Justice Department release.

Wertz's prison term will be followed by three years of supervised release, 100 hours of community service, a $5,000 fine, $99,800 in restitution and a $300 special assessment.

He was sentenced in federal court in Central Islip Nov. 22, as was an associated fish dealer, C&C Ocean Fishery Ltd., which is required to pay a $275,000 fine, $99,800 in restitution and a $1,600 special assessment.

The defendants must also comply with multiple sentence conditions, including relinquishment of federal fishing permits, a ban on participation in the Research Set-Aside Program, divestiture of any interest in the F/V Norseman and winding down and dissolving the company, C&C Ocean Fishery Ltd., within 90 days, according to the Justice Department.

All of the Norseman’s catch had to be reported to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on FVTRs. During 2009, 2010 and 2011, the Norseman principally targeted fluke. However, on multiple occasions the vessel exceeded its relevant federal and New York State quotas for fluke for 137 trips, totaling 86,080 pounds of fluke worth approximately $200,000, Justice Department officials report.

During an investigation, special agents of NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Law Enforcement, with assistance from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Police, discovered that false FVTRs were submitted for each of the 137 trips.

Department of Justice officials said the defendants electronically submitted the 137 false dealer reports from Wertz’s desktop computer, through an out-of-state Internet server, to NOAA’s Regional Fisheries Administrator in Gloucester, Mass.

"C&C Ocean was not only aware of the false Norseman FVTRs, but it aided and abetted the perpetration of the FVTR scheme through its preparation of federal dealer reports. As a federal dealer, C&C Ocean was required to prepare and submit federal dealer reports to NOAA. The dealer reports include information such as date of landing, port of landing, catch vessel, corresponding FVTR numbers, commercial grade, species, price and weight," Justice Department officials said Friday.

"In order to cover up the overharvesting that occurred on the water, C&C Ocean’s dealer report had to match the catch data that was submitted on the corresponding FVTR. In other words, if the FVTR falsely underreported the Norseman’s catch of fluke, then the scheme would likely be detected unless the corresponding dealer report was similarly falsified. Both defendants prepared and submitted false dealer reports for each of the trips set forth in the table."