California wardens arrest five in poaching case
CALIFORNIA WARDENS ARREST FIVE IN ALLEGED ABALONE POACHING CASE
Submitted by admin on Mon, 2009-01-12 09:50.
Department of Fish and Game (DFG) wardens arrested five suspected abalone poachers Friday morning in Sonoma County. The incident culminated with the suspects pitching abalone out the window as they sped down Highway 1 with a warden closing in.
Game Warden Joe Laugesen contacted Charles Lester Miller IV, age 20, and Michael Ray Phipps, age 19, both of Santa Rosa after Miller completed a SCUBA dive near Fort Ross. He recognized him as a person he had recently arrested for suspicion of poaching abalone for commercial sale. That case has yet to make it through the judicial process.
Everything appeared in order and Warden Laugesen let him go, but he suspected something was amiss. He scoured the beach and located a hidden sack of abalone. Wardens conducted surveillance of the area until just after midnight, when suspects Miller and Phipps reappeared with three additional associates in two vehicles. They went through extensive effort to conduct counter-surveillance by switching cars, passing the area multiple times, searching for lookouts, etc. Two and a half hours later, the suspected team of poachers finally stopped to recover their stash of abalone. They were allowed to leave the scene.
Warden Laugesen then followed them and made a vehicle stop. In his headlights, Warden Laugesen saw an abalone ejected from the window of the vehicle as the driver sped down Highway 1. Soon after, a heavy duffel bag was pitched from the window, then a backpack, then another backpack. When they finally stopped, they were arrested and booked into Sonoma County Jail on felony conspiracy to poach abalone for commercial sale among other charges. Those arrested also include Joshua Cowan Berto, age 19, Joshua William Stockman, age 19, and Colin Robert Devlin, age 20, all of Santa Rosa.
Wardens searched the roadside and recovered 31 abalone from the side of Highway 1.
