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January 5 through January 11, 2024
This report represents some events the FWC handled over specified weeks;
however, it does not include all actions taken by the Division of Law Enforcement.
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 CASES
Alachua County
- Officer Specialist Harris was on water patrol when he conducted a resource inspection on a vessel returning from a morning of fishing. When Officer Harris asked if the subject had any luck, he stated he had a limit of crappie. The officer determined the subject had 45 crappie, which is 20 fish over the daily bag. The appropriate citation was issued for over the daily bag limit of crappie.
- Master Officer Stanley conducted an inspection at a local deer processor. The officer checked the facility’s logbook and determined required harvest information was missing. Untagged deer meat found in a cooler had not been entered into the logbook. Appropriate citations were issued in reference to deer meat tagging requirements. Warnings were issued for not having the required information in the logbook.
- Officer Specialist Drew was on land patrol when he observed two subjects wearing camouflage running into a hayfield. Officer Drew turned around to conduct a resource inspection as it appeared the subjects were hunting wild turkey. Officer Drew observed the two hunters taking pictures with a dead gobbler. Both subjects had shotguns in their possession and a hen turkey decoy set up. The decoy and dead gobbler were lying in a pile of scattered whole corn. Officer Drew determined the two subjects were sitting approximately 15 yards from where the wild turkey was shot near the wood line at the base of a tree. Both subjects were issued appropriate citations.
- Master Officer Stanley and Officer Specialist Drew investigated untagged deer meat they located at a deer processing facility. The hunters were identified and interviewed. It was discovered the subjects shot two illegal deer at the same time, an antlerless deer and a deer that did not meet antler point regulations for that DMU. Based on the physical evidence they discovered and interviews with the subjects, appropriate charges were filed with the State Attorney’s Office for taking an antlered deer not meeting antler point regulations and taking an antlerless deer out of season.
Dixie County
- Lieutenant Ward conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle that did not display a license plate. The vehicle, which was not be registered, was operated and occupied by subjects known to Lieutenant Ward as commercial oyster harvesters. Officer Specialist Robson and Troiano arrived to assist. During the stop, it was found that the subjects had six bushels of oysters located in the trunk of the car. Lieutenant Ward issued a traffic citation to the driver of the unregistered vehicle. Officers Robson and Troiano continued to investigate the oyster harvest and will file additional charges with the State Attorney’s Office.
Duval County
- Officer Schirbock responded after midnight to a call to assist Neptune Beach Police Department with a vehicle stop they had conducted with occupants who had been hunting Canada geese. The officers observed a bow in the subject’s vehicle and found a goose that had been harvested. During an interview with the subjects, one admitted to shooting the goose. The subject was issued a citation for shooting a Canada goose in violation of legal shooting hours.
Hamilton County
Lafayette County
- Officer Clark was on patrol when he observed a vehicle traveling at a slow rate of speed and displaying a light out of the window. The officer watched the vehicle as it swept the light across fields and open areas where deer are commonly found. The officer conducted a stop of the vehicle. There were three individuals in the vehicle as well as two loaded firearms and a spotlight. The subjects were cited for attempting to take deer by gun and light.
Levy County
- Officer Jones received a complaint about night hunting. Officer Jones' inquiry revealed a deer had been shot at night. The officer collected evidence including deer hair, tire marks, and security video footage. The investigation led Officer Jones to three subjects, two of which were juveniles. The subjects advised the officer they shot the deer at night by using a spotlight and a rifle. Officer Jones was able to locate the deer carcass and the place where the subjects field dressed it. Charges are pending with the State Attorney’s office for taking a deer at night with a gun and light, shooting from a roadway, and littering.
- Officers Smith and Dean had responded to complaints about commercial oyster harvesters in prohibited waters in the creeks around Suwannee Sound. These waters are closed to harvest to protect the public from harmful bacteria in the shellfish. Officer Smith and Dean worked with FWC Pilot Derse and Officer VanNess who were in the air surveying the area. The air unit located a subject harvesting oysters in a creek in prohibited waters. Officers Smith and Dean went to the location provided by the air unit and observed a vessel with two subjects on board. The harvested oysters were piled on the culling board. Officers Smith and Dean arrested the violators for commercially harvesting oysters in prohibited waters.
Nassau County
- Officer Specialist Culbreth was conducting fisheries inspections around Nassau Sound. He observed three subjects fishing and decided to conduct an inspection. A observation of the catch revealed several undersized spotted sea trout. Two of the subjects were issued citations for nine undersized spotted sea trout.
Union County
- Officer Gill located a group who were duck hunting and conducted a resource and license inspection that revealed the subjects were using lead shot and hunting over bait. Charges were filed with the State Attorney's Office.
- Officer Gill responded to deer dogs from an adjacent hunting club that were running deer on private property. The owner of the dogs was located and cited for the violation.
 CASES
St. Johns County
- Officer Ramsey was on land patrol at a hunt club when he stopped a subject to conduct a resource inspection. During the inspection, he discovered the subject had deer meat in his cooler. The meat didn’t have any information identifying the harvester or what the sex of the deer was and the harvest was not recorded on a harvest log. The hunter was cited for possessing deer meat without retaining sex identification and not reporting the harvested deer.
Volusia County
- Officer Specialist Fletcher received a tip about an illegally killed deer. The information included a photo of a recently killed deer on the tailgate of a truck. Officer Fletcher used the information to investigate. The officer contacted the individual and recovered the deer antlers, which were in violation of antler point regulations for that deer management unit and zone. Officer Fletcher cited the individual.
 CASES
Hillsborough County
- While on patrol, Officers Bothe, Georgevich, and McCormack discovered a northern cardinal in a bird cage at a private residence. Northern cardinals are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and cannot be possessed. During the officers’ investigation, they determined the responsible party captured the bird and kept it as a pet. Officer Bothe issued the appropriate resource citation and the northern cardinal was released.
Lee County
- Officer Price and Lieutenant Ruggiero were on patrol when they observed three individuals fishing from a dock behind a building that was closed and fenced off for construction. After watching them fish for a few minutes, the officers located two more individuals fishing on another nearby dock that also was posted as closed. When the officers approached, the group of three quickly put down their fishing rods. One of the subjects stated he wasn’t fishing. Further inspection revealed none of the subjects had a valid fishing license, and they were in possession of a cooler containing alcohol even though none of them were 21 years old. The group was educated about criminal violations for possessing alcohol and for trespassing on a construction site. Each of them was issued an infraction for no fishing license and warnings were issued for the other violations.
- Officer Price and Lieutenant Ruggiero were on water patrol at night when they observed small lights flashing around a large construction site. They watched two subjects walk around the site, then return to their vehicle to retrieve fishing gear and begin fishing. As the officers approached in their patrol vessel, the two subjects turned off their flashlights and ran around the building to hide. Both subjects were located and identified. A vehicle inspection revealed the license plate was expired and was not registered to any vehicle. After determining the vehicle was not stolen, both subjects were issued citations for no fishing licenses, educated about trespassing on construction sites and the vehicle had to be towed home due to being unregistered.
Pinellas County
- While on land patrol, Lieutenant Bibeau observed a group of individuals fishing near a bridge. Lieutenant Bibeau watched the individuals fishing and observed one of them catch a small redfish and place it in a nearby cooler. He contacted the individual and conducted a fisheries inspection. At the conclusion of the inspection, Lieutenant Bibeau located a 14-inch redfish inside of the cooler. Lieutenant Bibeau issued the individual who harvested the redfish a citation for the fisheries violation.
- While working in a covert capacity, Officer Specialist Rorer observed an individual place a fish inside a white plastic bag and then hide the plastic bag in the back of a vehicle, which was parked on the side of the interstate. Officer Specialist Rorer called Lieutenant Bibeau and advised what she had observed. Lieutenant Bibeau drove to the area and waited for the individual to leave. As the individual packed up their belongings and drove off, Lieutenant Bibeau conducted a traffic stop to address the traffic violation and to conduct a fisheries inspection. Lieutenant Bibeau located an undersized redfish wrapped in a white plastic bag and hidden in the spare tire compartment in the back of the vehicle. Lieutenant Bibeau issued the individual a citation for possession of an undersized redfish and a warning for illegally parking on a limited access facility.
 CASES
Broward County
- Officer Beppel conducted a livery investigation at the George English Boat Ramp. The subject of the investigation initially provided a false name. Officer Beppel identified the subject’s real name, which revealed an active felony warrant. Additionally, the subject was charged with several livery charges. Beppel arrested/booked the subject at the Broward County jail for the felony warrant and livery charges.
- Officer Favrot was patrolling at the Everglades Wildlife Management Area and contacted hunters who advised they had been harassed by another hunter while hunting on public land. Officer Favrot’s investigation revealed one hunter did interfere with another person who was hunting and that person was issued a notice to appear citation for intentionally interfering with the lawful take of game.
- Officers Olivera and McCollin-Davis were patrolling at the Port Everglades Inlet and stopped a vessel to conduct a fisheries inspection. Their inspection revealed a gallon size plastic bag of fish filets. The filets appeared to be triggerfish, yellowtail snapper, and lane snapper. The officers issued the subject a notice to appear citation for failure to maintain fish in whole condition.
- Officer Constance was patrolling at the A-1 FEB Public Small Game Hunting Area and observed duck hunters exiting the marsh. The officer conducted a resource inspection and discovered one individual did not have a plugged shotgun. Officer Constance issued that individual a notice to appear citation for hunting with an unplugged shotgun.
- A tornado touched down in Fort Lauderdale near 2500 Las Olas Blvd. Officer Comartin responded and assessed the scene, reporting no injuries and a couple of damaged vessels.
Glades County
- Officer Watson was on patrol conducting resource and license inspections on Lake Okeechobee anglers. In this area, crappie must be a minimum of 10 inches to be legal to keep. One subject was found to be in possession of two undersized crappie. A check of the subject’s history revealed he had a previous warning and a citation for the same violation. The subject was issued a notice to appear for the possession of two undersized crappie.
Martin County
- Officers Peters and Simmons were on patrol when they observed four individuals fishing near a lock off Lake Okeechobee. As the officers approached, one of the individuals tried to dump the contents of a bucket into the water, but Officer Peters intervened and instructed him not to proceed. The officers discovered one of the individuals had an undersized snook in the same bucket he attempted to dispose of. While issuing a citation at the subject’s vehicle, the officers heard thumping noises from inside. They looked through the vehicle window and saw a large snook wrapped in a towel on the backseat, which turned out to be oversized. Uncovering these new violations, the subject was placed under arrest and charged with multiple offenses, including the illegal method of taking snook, possession of undersized and oversized snook, and possessing snook out of season.
Palm Beach County
- Lieutenant Brodbeck responded to a call for assistance on New Year’s Day from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office regarding illegal fishing from the beach near the town of South Palm Beach. Upon arrival, a PBSO deputy had the subject stopped and was shown a cooler containing two undersized mutton snapper, which had been speared. When Lieutenant Brodbeck asked the subject for his fishing license, he stated it was in his apartment across the street. Lieutenant Brodbeck followed the subject to his apartment, where a third undersized mutton snapper was discovered. The subject was found to have numerous prior FWC violations. The subject was issued a resource citation for the violation.
- Officer Harris was on patrol off S.R. 80 and the L8 levee when he encountered two vehicles not authorized to access the levee. Upon contact with the driver of the second vehicle, he discovered the subject driver’s license was suspended and there was a seize tag order on the vehicle. In addition, he located a bucket in the open-air bed of the vehicle that contained 13 black bass, four bluegill, one redear sunfish, and a cast net. None of the fish had any visible hook marks. Both drivers were given notice to appear citations for the unauthorized use of vehicles on South Florida Water Management District lands, over-the-bag-limit of black bass and possession of freshwater fish harvested by illegal methods. The second driver’s license was seized, along with the vehicle being towed.
SEARCH AND RESCUE
Martin County
- Officer Reinhardt was patrolling the area of downtown Jensen Beach when he observed an out of place set of taillights. Officer Reinhardt positioned his patrol truck's lights on the car in question and realized it was a vehicle that had made a wrong turn and was now stuck on the train tracks. Officer Reinhardt quickly exited his vehicle and made his way to the car where a visibly shaken woman was still inside. Officer Reinhardt assisted the woman to safety away from the tracks. With the assistance of Martin County Sheriff’s Office, East Coast Railway and a tow truck, the train schedule was able to be stopped and the woman’s vehicle was removed from the tracks.
CASES
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