ESCANABA - More witnesses, including three conservation officers involved in the investigation of illegal fishing activity on Little Bay de Noc, testified in the trial of three Garden Peninsula men Thursday in Delta County District Court.
Wade and Troy Jensen, brothers, and John Elmer Halverson, have been charged with conspiring to buy/sell fish taken without a commercial fishing license. The case dates back to an investigation in February 2009.
The Jensens are tribal-licensed commercial fishermen and members of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Halverson is a non-native. The trial began Tuesday with jury selection followed by witness testimony Wednesday and Thursday.
The three defendants are accused of making a deal with one another and three Rapid River brothers and tribe members - Andy, Kevin and John Schwartz - to buy/sell fish caught with subsistence gill nets and sell them to Big Bay de Noc Fisheries in Garden.
Kevin Schwartz was among witnesses who testified Wednesday. Andy and John Schwartz testified Thursday with their statements reflecting much of what Kevin said the day before.
During individual testimony, the Schwartzes told the court they never sold fish and never agreed with anyone to violate the law.
The three Schwartzes, along with Halverson, were investigated by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) when discrepancies were found in the reporting of the amount of walleye harvested by the three brothers and the amount of walleye the Jensens sold to the wholesale fishery.
Conservation Officer Cpl. Shannon VanPatten, the lead investigator, was assisted in the investigation by local and downstate conservation officers. VanPatten took the witness stand Thursday following testimony by Sgt. Darryl Shann, a local conservation officer, and Larry Desloover, a commercial fish specialist with the DNR downstate.
The officers were among a team of DNR personnel which conducted surveillance on the defendants and the Schwartzes' fishing activities in February 2009. The officers also participated in a covert operation to implant microchips in 20 walleye found caught in the Schwartzes' gill nets overnight on Feb. 21-22.
Desloover said the officers were extremely careful in not disturbing the site that night because they didn't want to raise any suspicion. They walked on each other's foot tracks and duplicated the knots in the nets after pulling them to tag the fish, he said.
The fish were later traced on Feb. 24 at the wholesale fishery where the Jensens allegedly brought the walleye to sell. Because the DNR confiscated the fish, fishery owner James Hermes said he never paid the Jensens for the walleye.
Throughout the trial, Karl Numinen, attorney for the two Jensen brothers, has contended there is no evidence the fish brought to the fishery were the same fish harvested by the Schwartz brothers.
Numinen also said "the chain of custody" of the fish in question was broken at various times when no one was keeping track of the nets or the fish after the DNR left the site and until the fish were detected at the fishery. The lawyer said anyone could have taken the fish from the nets.
The three Schwartz brothers said they each knew something was wrong when they and Halverson returned to the nets on the morning of Feb. 23. Each stated there were tracks all over and it was obvious the nets had been tampered with because the knots were different and the nets were twisted. They also found unknown plastic things on the ground, later said to be parts from the microchip dispenser.
Halverson's attorney, Elizabeth LaCosse, questioned each of the Schwartzes on past tampering of their gills nets and the tension between tribal fishermen and sports fishermen. LaCosse was also concerned the conservation officers did not know where the Schwartzes' fish gut pile was located and if "garbage" fish were dumped there.
County Prosecutor Steve Parks questioned each of the Schwartzes on each of their tribal fish count reports, which are each signed on Feb. 23, 2009, the last day they lifted their nets and harvested walleye.
During testimony from Andy Schwartz on Thursday, he said the catch reports were all dated Feb. 23, 2009, because they did not have their nets and they were done fishing by that date. According to testimony from conservation officers, the gill nets were confiscated by the DNR the next day on Feb. 24, 2009.
The Schwartz brothers were sentenced last year in tribal court in connection with violations of tribal laws related to the case. They were granted immunity from state and federal prosecution if they truthfully testified in the Jensens/Halverson joint trial in district court.
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Jenny Lancour, (906) 786-2021, ext. 143, jlancour@dailypress.net
