NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A Tangier man has admitted to overharvesting Chesapeake Bay blue crabs on multiple occasions and selling them in Maryland.
45-year-old James Warren Eskridge on Wednesday pleaded guilty to one count of knowingly transporting and selling blue crab in interstate commerce between Virginia and Maryland in violation of Virginia law and one count of knowingly making and submitting a false record, according to a release from the Department of Justice.
Federal prosecutors say Eskridge harvested and sold more than the 27-pound Virginia limit on 16 different occasions in a month’s span, from March 20, 2023 to April 20, 2023.
Eskridge and two others out of Tangier were first spotted selling the overharvested crabs on April 11, 2023 by Virginia Marine Police in Crisfield, Maryland, not far over the state line.
They offloaded nearly 60 bushels on several occasions, prosecutors said, and their overharvesting ranged from 32 to 59 bushels.
When confronted by police, Eskridge originally said he bought the crabs from a “buy boat” to later sell on shore, but later admitted the crabs were his and he was overharvesting in Virginia.
Eskridge faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison when he’s sentenced on July 17.