FWC Law Enforcement Report

April 11, 2017

The Florida FWC Division of Law Enforcement reported the following activity during the two week period ending April 6 in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.

ESCAMBIA COUNTY

Officer Allgood was on vessel patrol in the Big Lagoon when he saw a vessel on plane in violation of the idle speed zone. He stopped the vessel and spoke to the operator, noticing several signs of impairment. After performing poorly on the field sobriety exercises, the operator was arrested for BUI. The operator agreed to give a breath sample and the result was .152 g /210L. The operator was booked into the Escambia County Jail.

Officer Manning received information about illegal redfish being harvested at the Bob Sikes Fishing Bridge. As one individual was leaving the bridge, and inspection of his cooler revealed two redfish measuring 30 and 32 inches. The individual was cited for possession of oversized redfish and over the bag limit of redfish.

Officers Long and Manning were on patrol on the Bob Sikes Fishing Bridge when they stopped to speak to a group of fishermen and discovered a recently cleaned redfish. After questioning, one of the fishermen admitted to catching and cleaning the fish. The fisherman was issued a notice to appear citation for failure to maintain the redfish in whole condition.

SANTA ROSA COUNTY

While conducting resource inspections at Archie Glover Boat Ramp, Officer Land noticed two individuals with cast nets on the dock. He approached the two men and asked if they had caught anything. One of them replied, “Just finger mullet,” as he pointed to a five‑gallon bucket. Officer Land looked in the bucket filled with mullet and upon closer inspection, discovered a 13‑inch striped bass. It is illegal to possess striped bass under 18 inches and to harvest them with a cast net. The appropriate citations and warnings were issued for the violations.

Throughout the weekend in Blackwater River State Forest, Officer Lewis issued various citations and warnings for operating a vehicle off the established road in a state forest, possession of alcoholic beverages where posted as prohibited, and possession of glass containers in and around waterways. One of the cases he made was at Krul Lake where he saw a man in possession of a glass bottle of beer. Glass containers and alcoholic beverages are prohibited in that area. A woman was sitting next to the man and smoking cannabis. When he approached the couple, the woman attempted to conceal the cannabis cigarette she was smoking but eventually gave it to the officer. Additional cannabis was seized as evidence from the woman. The man was cited for possessing the glass container and alcoholic beverage. The woman was issued a notice to appear for possession of cannabis not more than 20 grams and drug paraphernalia.

Officer Hutchinson was patrolling a primitive camping area when he saw a man and a woman walking towards a vehicle from the creek. He saw the man carrying a drug pipe and cannabis grinder. The man admitted that he and his girlfriend just finished smoking marijuana with the pipe. When attempting to identify the man and woman, the woman provided a false name. After searching the vehicle and identifying the woman by her identification that was found during the search, two active warrants for her arrest came back. Officer Hutchinson issued the man a notice to appear for the possession of cannabis and drug paraphernalia. The woman was placed under arrest and transported to jail.

Officer Jones was checking fishermen on the Navarre Beach Fishing Pier and contacted a subject who had eight pompano in his possession. The daily bag limit is six fish per day. A citation was issued with a mandatory court appearance. The illegal fish were returned to the water.

This report represents some events the FWC handled over the past week; however, it does not include all actions taken by the Division of Law Enforcement. Information provided by FWC.

NorthEscambia.com photo.

Comments

2 Responses to “FWC Law Enforcement Report”

  1. Smh on April 11th, 2017 5:47 pm

    Lol, 8 pompano instead of 6, get em boys, get em! Bahaha

  2. just sayin on April 11th, 2017 9:08 am

    Always enjoy reading these reports. Thanks for posting them.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News