QUILCENE — The arrest of two men who are allegedly connected to the illegal harvest of hundreds of thousands of pounds of shellfish from both state-managed and private tidelands represented only the beginning of a large operation, according to the investigating officer.
“We believe there are more individuals involved in this operation,” said Deputy Chief Mike Cenci of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
‘Uncover a conspiracy’
“We believe that we will uncover a conspiracy that is responsible for stealing shellfish.”
At present, neither of the men arrested is charged with that crime.
Donald Lance Owens, 43, of Quilcene was arrested on March 18 for investigation of first-degree theft, possession of stolen property and failure to report commercial shellfish harvesting.
The charges were dropped on March 22, and Owens was released.
Rodney Allan Clark, 45, also of Quilcene — who is the owner of G&R Quality Seafood, also known as Quil Bay Seafood in Quilcene — was arrested for investigation of five counts of being a felon in possession of a gun.
Clark is out on bail on the firearms charge, has a pretrial hearing on April 23 and a trial scheduled for June 21.
No more arrests
No other additional arrests have been made in the case, but the state Department of Health suspended G&R’s license as a result of the charges and leveled a $60,000 fine.
State Department of Health spokesman Gordon MacCracken said his agency’s action were separate from the criminal investigation.
He said Clark was within his rights to appeal the decision but had not done so as of Monday.
“During our investigation, we observed the employees in areas where they were not certified,” Cenci said.
“They did not have ownership rights to the shellfish they were harvesting.”
Cenci said the agency believed that Clark was a flight risk at the time of his arrest.
Sanctions imposed
Prior to the dropping of the charges, Owens’ bail documents forbid his contact with Clark and five other individuals.
Cenci said he recognized the five names but would not comment about their connection to the investigation.
Cenci said he expects the investigation to be wrapped up in the next few months, and all those connected to the operation will be arrested.
He did not provide any specifics about the investigation, saying “we have a great deal of work to do yet, but we will prove our case.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.