Florida fishermen used to sell protected sea turtles – including hatchlings – to undercover cops out of their homes at night.
Now Florida AG James Uthmeier just dropped racketeering charges on ten of them.
And the sentences they're facing will make every poacher in the Gulf of America think twice.
A Four-Year Sting That Started With One Phone Call
The investigation began in May 2022 after FWC received complaints about reef fish poaching along Florida's Gulf Coast.
Then something unusual happened.
One of the suspects approached an undercover officer looking to offload illegally caught fish.
That was the opening investigators needed.
For four years, undercover FWC officers documented a statewide network operating across North Florida – from the Big Bend region all the way down to Tampa Bay.
The ring pulled in approximately 23,000 pounds of fish.
https://twitter.com/AGJamesUthmeier/status/2107560808788185397?s=20
Red snapper and gag grouper – two of the most regulated species in the Gulf – were being taken far beyond legal limits.
Then they moved the catch in the dark – night sales at the dock, home transactions, direct water-to-water handoffs – every method designed to stay off the books.
Total sales topped $150,000 in fish, shrimp, and turtles.
Three of the defendants – Terry Carrington, Anthony Folsom, and Jordan Neylan – went further than fish.
They caught protected sea turtles.
Then they sold them – adults and hatchlings – to undercover officers for cash.
Baby sea turtles, sold out the back door, by guys who knew exactly what they were doing and didn't care.
The Charges Are Built to Stick
Every one of the ten defendants faces racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering – the same charges used to take down organized crime operations.
"We plan to leave Florida better to God than how we found it," Uthmeier said at Monday's press conference in Carrabelle. "Poachers abusing our natural resources will be prosecuted to the fullest extent."
Carrington, Folsom, and Neylan – the three who sold sea turtles – each face up to 75 years in prison if convicted.
https://twitter.com/AGJamesUthmeier/status/2107126868486816151?s=20
The others face between 65 and 70 years, depending on the specific charges.
FWC Chairman Rodney Barreto called out exactly what's at stake beyond the criminal charges.
"Florida's fisheries belong to all of us," Barreto said. "The rules exist to protect these resources and the fishermen who play by them."
That last part matters.
Law-abiding commercial fishermen operate under strict quotas, mandatory reporting, and season limits.
Every pound a poacher pulls up illegally is a pound stolen from them – and from the fish populations that Florida's entire fishing economy depends on.
Uthmeier Is Already Pushing to Make Poaching Laws Tougher
The AG didn't stop at announcing charges.
Uthmeier told reporters he plans to ask the Florida Legislature to increase penalties for poaching – particularly for cases involving weapons near homes or families.
"A lot of the poaching laws on the books today are just misdemeanors," he said.
He's right.
Under current Florida law, someone illegally poaching at night near a residential area while armed might walk away with a slap.
Uthmeier wants that to be a third-degree felony with real prison time.
What looked like a routine complaint about overfishing became a four-year racketeering case spanning most of the state.
That's the pattern – and it's exactly why Uthmeier wants tougher laws on the books before the next ring gets rolling.
Florida has seen this before.
In 2019, FWC busted a two-man operation that poached more than 4,000 turtles and sold them on a black market worth $200,000 – what the agency called the largest turtle seizure in recent history.
Two guys.
This ring had ten, and they ran it for four years.
https://twitter.com/AGJamesUthmeier/status/2107109405389103254?s=20
And the red snapper angle is worth paying attention to.
The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned members of the Gulf Cartel last year specifically for running illegal snapper operations in American waters.
The same fish these defendants were illegally pulling out of the Gulf – the same species, the same methods, the same dodge-the-reporting-requirements playbook – is being harvested by a Mexican drug cartel on the other side of the water.
Florida's Gulf fisheries are getting hit from two directions at once.
Uthmeier is drawing a hard line on one of them.
"The actions of these poachers undermine Florida's resources, the livelihoods of law-abiding fishermen, and the interests of all Floridians," said FWC Division of Law Enforcement Col. Alberto Maza.
That's exactly right.
And for the guys who thought selling baby sea turtles out the back door was a business plan – they're about to spend the next several decades thinking about that decision.
Sources:
- Michael Costeines, "James Uthmeier Charges 10 for Allegedly Poaching Fish, Sea Turtles," The Capitolist, October 5, 2026.
- Gershon Harrell, "Florida officials charge 10 in sea turtle poaching, illegal fishing operation," CBS12, October 5, 2026.
- Michael Moline, "Uthmeier announces arrests in alleged massive sea life poaching ring," Florida Phoenix, October 5, 2026.
- "Two suspects charged in largest seizure of turtles in recent history, FWC says," Fox News, October 19, 2019.
- "U.S. Coast Guard Apprehends More Red Snapper Poachers from Mexico," Seafood Source, 2026.
