Man caught with nearly 200 illegal lobsters

A man stopped by the Sheriff’s Office for a traffic infraction Tuesday night was arrested after nearly 200 illegally harvested lobster tails were found in the car.

Yordy Escalante Carrillo, 25, of Marathon, was cited for possession of 191 speared lobsters, possession of 150 undersized lobsters and possession of 185 over-the-limit lobsters.

Middle Keys Deputy Michael Maleta was on patrol in Marathon about 10:30 p.m. when he saw a Dodge car with an unreadable tag. Deputy Maleta made a traffic stop. Deputy Maleta told the driver, later identified as Carrillo, that he could smell burnt marijuana emitting from the car, but there was a English/Spanish language barrier. Sgt. Lisette Quintero arrived to translate. Sgt. Quintero informed Carrillo that he had been stopped because his license plate was unreadable. She added the odor of marijuana was present inside the car. Carrillo denied having anything illegal in the car, but admitted that he works with people who smoke marijuana.

Deputy Maleta searched the car. Deputy Maleta found a Rubbermaid© container filled with wrung lobster tails. No other illegal contraband was found inside the vehicle.

Carrillo agreed to talk to deputies. Carrillo admitted the lobsters were his. Carrillo admitted to catching all the lobsters that night. Carrillo admitted to spearing the lobsters. Carrillo stated he did not have a commercial fishing license.

Carrillo was taken to jail.

A total of 191 wrung lobster tails were found. All were speared. Of those 191 tails, 150 were undersized.

The legal limit for legally-sized, harvested lobsters in Monroe County is six-per-person-per-day.

For more information about lobster regulations in the Florida Keys, go to: nmsfloridakeys.blob.core.windows.net/floridakeys-prod/media/archive/regs/mc_lobster.pdf

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