King County prosecutors have charged 12 people alleged to sold millions of clams and oysters illegally harvested from Washington beaches at Seattle wholesale markets.
Filing charges Tuesday, prosecutors claim G&R Quality Seafoods owner Rodney A. Clark put the public at risk by selling uninspected shellfish to high-end restaurants and wholesalers, and offering them at fish markets.
Clark and his workers are alleged to have sold shellfish — some taken from areas not approved for harvest — that sickened consumers. Investigators believe Clark and his employees may have stolen as much as $4.9 million worth of seafood.
According to prosecutors, Clark directed his employees to secretly harvest oysters and clams from isolated beaches in Jefferson and Kitsap counties. The seafood was then brought to King County and sold.
“These natural resources were taken from public lands, and the citizens of this state and our environment are the victims of these alleged crimes,” King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said in a statement.
“The defendant’s greed drove him to put the seafood-consuming public’s health at risk by selling oysters and clams that were not fit for safe consumption,” Satterberg continued.
Click here to read the rest of the story from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer >
