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Police, feds raid Whitehall business
StoryDiscussionBy Don Lehman dlehman@poststar.com | Posted: Thursday, May 6, 2010 2:33 pm | (9) Comments
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DON LEHMAN - dlehman@poststar.co
Conservation police officers joined Whitehall police in searching Honey’s Bait & Tackle on Thursday as part of an investigation into illegal fish sales. .
..WHITEHALL -- Police officers from at least five agencies searched a Whitehall fish bait and tackle store Thursday as part of an interstate investigation into illegal sales of fish.
Investigators from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, state Department of Environmental Conservation and conservation officers from New Hampshire and Vermont joined Whitehall police as they searched Honey’s Bait & Tackle on Broadway for more than an hour Wednesday.
An officer wearing a vest that had the phrase “US F & W evidence technician” on the back emerged with a box full of documents at one point, which he put in a sport-utility vehicle.
Whitehall Police Chief Matt Dickinson said he could not discuss the case, referring comment to the investigators from the other agencies. The conservation officers would not say why they were at the store, referring comment to higher-ups in New York and New Hampshire.
DEC spokesman David Winchell said the agency had no comment on the matter as of Wednesday afternoon, and a call to the New Hampshire Fish & Game Department was not returned.
Washington County District Attorney Kevin Kortright said he was aware of the investigation, but could not discuss it. He said criminal charges are possible.
“They’ve been working on it for a long time. It’s interesting,” he said.
They left without arresting store owner Leonard Field, who said afterward that he was told the investigation focused on his purchase of fish.
Field is one of a number of bait and tackle dealers in the Adirondacks who buy fish like perch and sunfish from anglers, mainly during ice fishing season, that are in turn sold to companies that prepare it and sell it for human consumption or other uses.
Anglers can be paid up to $4 per pound for certain types of fish, like crappies.
A source familiar with the inquiry, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said the investigation focused on allegations that Field purchased fish that were caught in other states and from anglers who greatly exceeded fish catch limits on the waters where they were fishing.
New York allows the practice of anglers selling certain kinds of fish, but many other states do not. And it’s illegal to bring fish caught in one state to sell them in New York without a permit.
Field said he knew only that the investigation focused on his fish purchases.
“They were asking questions about fish-buying. They asked who I was buying from,” he said. “I didn’t do anything illegal that I know of. I’ve got nothing to hide.”
He said he hasn't been buying or selling as much fish as he used to.
He had a copy of a four-page search warrant issued by Judge Randolph Treece in U.S. District Court in Albany, which he would not show a reporter.
However, it listed on it several other Washington County residents, one of them Whitehall resident Garth Martel, who was arrested in connection with a home burglary in Whitehall on Tuesday.
Field said the other people listed on the search warrant were people he had purchased fish from.
.Posted in Local on Thursday, May 6, 2010 2:33 pm Updated: 4:18 pm. | Tags: Whitehall, Dec, Fish
.Home / News / Local
Police, feds raid Whitehall business
StoryDiscussionBy Don Lehman dlehman@poststar.com | Posted: Thursday, May 6, 2010 2:33 pm | (9) Comments
Font Size:Default font sizeLarger font size
DON LEHMAN - dlehman@poststar.co
Conservation police officers joined Whitehall police in searching Honey’s Bait & Tackle on Thursday as part of an investigation into illegal fish sales. .
..WHITEHALL -- Police officers from at least five agencies searched a Whitehall fish bait and tackle store Thursday as part of an interstate investigation into illegal sales of fish.
Investigators from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, state Department of Environmental Conservation and conservation officers from New Hampshire and Vermont joined Whitehall police as they searched Honey’s Bait & Tackle on Broadway for more than an hour Wednesday.
An officer wearing a vest that had the phrase “US F & W evidence technician” on the back emerged with a box full of documents at one point, which he put in a sport-utility vehicle.
Whitehall Police Chief Matt Dickinson said he could not discuss the case, referring comment to the investigators from the other agencies. The conservation officers would not say why they were at the store, referring comment to higher-ups in New York and New Hampshire.
DEC spokesman David Winchell said the agency had no comment on the matter as of Wednesday afternoon, and a call to the New Hampshire Fish & Game Department was not returned.
Washington County District Attorney Kevin Kortright said he was aware of the investigation, but could not discuss it. He said criminal charges are possible.
“They’ve been working on it for a long time. It’s interesting,” he said.
They left without arresting store owner Leonard Field, who said afterward that he was told the investigation focused on his purchase of fish.
Field is one of a number of bait and tackle dealers in the Adirondacks who buy fish like perch and sunfish from anglers, mainly during ice fishing season, that are in turn sold to companies that prepare it and sell it for human consumption or other uses.
Anglers can be paid up to $4 per pound for certain types of fish, like crappies.
A source familiar with the inquiry, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said the investigation focused on allegations that Field purchased fish that were caught in other states and from anglers who greatly exceeded fish catch limits on the waters where they were fishing.
New York allows the practice of anglers selling certain kinds of fish, but many other states do not. And it’s illegal to bring fish caught in one state to sell them in New York without a permit.
Field said he knew only that the investigation focused on his fish purchases.
“They were asking questions about fish-buying. They asked who I was buying from,” he said. “I didn’t do anything illegal that I know of. I’ve got nothing to hide.”
He said he hasn't been buying or selling as much fish as he used to.
He had a copy of a four-page search warrant issued by Judge Randolph Treece in U.S. District Court in Albany, which he would not show a reporter.
However, it listed on it several other Washington County residents, one of them Whitehall resident Garth Martel, who was arrested in connection with a home burglary in Whitehall on Tuesday.
Field said the other people listed on the search warrant were people he had purchased fish from.
.Posted in Local on Thursday, May 6, 2010 2:33 pm Updated: 4:18 pm. | Tags: Whitehall, Dec, Fish