NEW JERSEY -The owner of the Harbor House Seafood was sentenced Friday to two years and two months in prison for buying and illegally processing over-harvested oysters and creating fake paperwork to hide the evidence, officials said.
Oyster harvesters and dealers sold illegal oysters through their company, Shellrock LLC, to Mark Bryan, 59, of Harbor House Seafood, a wholesale and retail seafood operator in Delaware.
“The defendants’ actions provided a market for dishonest oystermen who were willing to place natural resources at risk in the name of profit,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden of the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.
Bryan, and his Delaware-based seafood wholesale business, Harbor House, were in federal court for their role in conspiring to create false records to conceal the scheme from authorities.
Bryan and his Delaware-based seafood wholesale business, Harbor House Seafood, were sentenced in federal court in Camden, New Jersey, for trafficking in illegally possessed oysters, creating false health and safety records, and conspiracy charges.
Bryan was also ordered to pay a $62,500 fine and to pay New Jersey $140,000 for the restoration of oyster beds in Delaware Bay.
Harbor House was ordered to pay a $250,000 fine and was sentenced to five years of probation.
Here are the facts and circumstances surround this case, according to authorities.
Bryan and Harbor House were convicted in 2012 of multiple felony crimes related to dealings in illegal oysters from 2004 to 2007.
The evidence showed that for more than four years, Bryan conspired with New Jersey oystermen Thomas Reeves and Todd Reeves to cover up the Reeves’ overharvest of oysters from the Delaware Bay.
Bryan, through his company, Harbor House Seafood, purchased the illegal oysters from the Reeves’ brothers, then assisted in covering up the Reeves’ over harvest by maintaining double-books, providing federal agents with false records, and by falsifying his FDA-mandated health and safety logs.
During the trial, the jury saw numerous instances of late-night faxes between Bryan and the Reeves which were used to coordinate their conspiracy and hide their wrong-doing from investigators.
Bryan was also shown to have purchased illegal oysters from oyster harvester Kenneth Bailey of New Jersey.
During the course of his crimes, Bryan purchased and sold over $1.2 million worth of illegal oysters.
The Reeves brothers and Bailey were previously sentenced on Feb. 11 to 26 months, 16 months, and 12 months in prison, respectively, for their roles.