Officers with the US state of Louisiana's Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) issued citations to five commercial fishermen in Cameron Parish earlier this month after an investigation found that the individuals falsified records for nearly 60,000 pounds of crab.

Law enforcement agents with LDWF began investigating commercial fishermen Selema Frank (53), Wendy Hill (43), Edward Naquin (61), Angela LaBove (50) and Francis Theriot (60) after hearing reports about falsified trip tickets. According to the agents, a commercial dock in Grand Chenier, Louisiana, was working with the five fishermen to "falsify the trip ticket information by putting them in other people's names than the actual person harvesting the crabs."

Through the investigation, LDWF agents discovered 125 falsified trip tickets that contained 175 falsified daily transactions and 59,834 pounds of illegally documented crab.

On April 16, LDWF agents cited Frank for injuring public records, filing false public records, criminal conspiracy and failing to maintain records. Hill was cited for criminal conspiracy. Naquin was cited for failing to complete trip tickets and criminal conspiracy. LaBove was cited for injuring public records, criminal conspiracy and filing false public records. Theriot was charged with failing to complete trip tickets, criminal conspiracy and injuring public records. 

Failure to maintain records brings a fine up to $500 and up to 90 days in jail, while injuring public records and filing false records carries a fine up to $5,000 and five years in jail. LDWF noted that criminal conspiracy "brings fines and imprisonment in the same manner as the offense contemplated by the conspirators."

The latest citations come a few weeks after LDWF agents issued citations to four other fishermen who were engaged in illegal crab harvesting in Terrebonne Parish. Those fishermen were found to be in possession of immature female crabs, as reported by Undercurrent News.