Two men charged with spearing lobster

Two men charged with spearing lobster

Two men were arrested Thursday for spearing lobster illegally.

Marine Deputy Wilfredo Guerra was on patrol at Fiesta Key Campground at the 70 mile marker just after 5 p.m. when he spotted the two men in the water. He saw they both had spear guns and appeared to be spearing sea life. As he approached, he could see them dropping speared lobster. He asked them to get out of the water.

He asked the two men for identification and their fishing licenses, which they retrieved from their vehicle parked nearby. As they were getting the documents from their car, Deputy Guerra spotted a bag hidden under the rear passenger seat. He asked the two men if they had any fish or lobster in their vehicle.

One of the men pulled the bag from under the seat. It contained 15 wrung spiny lobster tails.

Both men admitted to spearing and wringing the tails.

The men were identified as 28 year old IurII Kucherenko of Hallendale Beach, Florida and 28 year old Iurchyk Oleksandr of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They were charged with possession of out of season spiny lobster, possession of over the limit spiny lobster, possession of speared spiny lobster, possession of wrung spiny lobster tails in the water, possession of undersized spiny lobster tails and spearfishing in the Upper Keys.

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