KETCHIKAN — A former Ketchikan resident and business owner has pleaded guilty to purchasing nearly 1,000 pounds of halibut that was caught for subsistence and sport purposes.
Donald Ray Thornlow, 66, entered his plea Wednesday to one count of violating the Lacey Act, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The federal law criminalizes the purchase or sale of fish or other wildlife in violation of state law.
The charging document, filed Sept. 10, states that Thornlow “knowingly received, acquired and purchased” Pacific halibut that “in the exercise of due care he should have known was taken, possessed, transported and sold in violation of federal law.” The alleged violations took place between January 2012 and December 2013.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Schmidt said that Thornlow participated in “a continuing scheme of purchasing subsistence and sport caught halibut for resale in his restaurant,” according to the release. Thornlow was the owner and operator of the former Narrows Inn and Restaurant in Ketchikan.
As part of the plea agreement, Thornlow admitted to purchasing at least 997 pounds of illegally caught halibut — with a market value of more than $16,000 —from three sources. Thornlow paid the three fishermen much less than he would have paid for legally harvested halibut, the release stated.
A sentencing memorandum filed by Schmidt on Monday stated that Thornlow had purchased halibut at market prices before he started having financial problems in January 2012.
“In this particular case, law enforcement first received complaints from several disgruntled employees of Thornlow’s,” the memo stated. “These complaints were later substantiated when officers went through the Narrow Inn’s financial documents obtained during the execution of a search warrant at the defendant’s business and payments that went to fishermen who did not have (individual fishing quota) permits to commercially catch or sell Pacific halibut.”
Thornlow has received one year of probation and must pay a $5,000 fine as part of the plea deal.
