A Wrangell father and son were sentenced in Federal court on Monday in connection with violations of the Lacey Act that took place in a three year period between June 28th, 2010 and May 20th, 2013, the Justice Department announced on Tuesday.

70-year-old Charles “Chuck” Petticrew Sr, and 42-year-old Charles “Jeff” Petticrew Jr were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Timothy Burgess to five years probation each, and the senior Petticrew was also ordered to pay a fine of $90,000, while his son was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. In addition, both defendants agreed to pay for and have installed, a Vessel Monitoring System, that would be required to be used on any vessel in use by the family corporation.

Although the two Petticrews could have been sentenced to as much as five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, sentencing followed the recommendations of the agreement laid out in the plea deal in late October. The duo had put together a plea deal before ever even stepping into court for the first time, and in return for the expedited pleas, the federal government agreed to not bring any further charges, civil or criminal against the two.

The father and son falsified IFQ forms, tickets and log books while fishing for halibut aboard the family-owned, wooden fishing vessel, “Arlice.” While their faked records on approximately 4,000 pounds of halibut worth an estimated $23,375 showed that they had caught the groundfish in Gulf of Alaska waters, designated 3A, it was found that the two had actually caught the halibut near Yakutat, where fishing was easier and travel time, thus fuel costs were less.

The investigation that led to the charges in this case we carried out by NOAA’s law enforcement division.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Adsense-responsive”]

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