A pair of men from the Midcoast are facing charges of smuggling elvers in New Jersey.
Joseph Kelley of Woolwich and James Lewis of West Bath have both been indicted in New Jersey for the a conspiracy to smuggle elvers and violated the Lacey Act, as first reported by the Bangor Daily News.
According to the indictment, Kelley and Lewis, along with a slew of co-conspirators, conspired to illegally harvest elvers, disguise their origins and sell them for profit. Allegedly, the defendants caught elvers in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, transporting them across state lines to sell to dealers and exporters. In total, from 2013 to 2014, the Department of Justice claims they trafficked in more $1.5 million worth of juvenile eels illegally.
The American market for elvers is extremely lucrative, with dealers purchasing them at $2,000 per pound. Elvers are a popular food product, often exported live to East Asian countries where they are raised to adulthood and used in a number of dishes.
Maine is one of only two states with a commercial elver fishery.
The men were indicted in Newark, New Jersey, on Jan. 18.
The indictments come as part of the DOJ’s Operation Broken Glass, a multi-jurisdiction U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigation into illegal eel trafficking. So far, the operation has resulted in 19 guilty pleas — some from Maine residents.
The indictment against Kelley and Lewis names a number of co-conspirators, including a trio from the Midcoast: Abert Cray of Phippsburg, Mark Green of West Bath and John Pinkham of Bath. Other co-conspirators named in the indictment are George Anestis of Boxborough, Massachusetts; Michael Bryant of West Yarmouth, Massachusetts, and Thomas Choi of Cambridge, Maryland.
The various individuals charged have admitted to illegally trafficking more than $4.5 million of elvers.
Lewis was released on $25,000 bail, while Kelley was arrested on Feb. 20 after failing to appear for his arraignment.
nstrout@timesrecord.com
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