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photo credit: ShutterstockA Rohnert Park husband and wife have forfeited $66,000 in cash for illegally selling sport-caught fish from home in a scheme believed to gone on for at least a decade, Sonoma County prosecutor said.
The couple unlawfully commercialized sport-caught fish mainly taken off the Sonoma Coast, the District Attorney's Office said Friday in a press release, citing an investigation by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The probe, triggered by a tip in 2024, found the couple processed their catch at their home and conducted illegal sales there, at other residences in Sonoma County, and at homes and businesses throughout the Bay Area, prosecutors said.
"Through their investigation, CDFW came to believe [the suspects] had been selling fish illegally for at least the past 10 years," prosecutors said.
The couple was accused of using a fishing vessel that wasn't commercially registered, using people who weren't commercially licensed, and failing to file paperwork that allowed them to circumvent paying fees and declaring fish sales for tax purposes.
The accused couple forfeited $66,000 that CDFW seized from their home, "representing just a portion of the proceeds of their illegal fish business," along with fishing gear, prosecutors said. They will not be allowed to engage in any fishing activities for one year.
