Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Hal Robbins, Special Agent in Charge, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and Adam Putnam, Commissioner, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS), announced the filing of a twenty-four count criminal Information against Richard R. Stowell, 65, of St. Pete Beach, and United Seafood Imports, Inc. (“United”), of St. Petersburg, Florida.

If convicted, Stowell faces a statutory maximum penalty of up to 5 years’ incarceration and fines of up to $20,000.00 on each of the criminal counts in the Information. United Seafood Imports, Inc., would face fines of up to $500,000.00 per count.

Mr. Ferrer commended the efforts of NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement and the State of Florida for their work on this matter. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Norman O. Hemming, III.

An Information is only an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

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A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.