Department of Justice officials announced Friday the convictions of multiple defendants on felony charges related to fishing operations that took more oysters from the Delaware Bay than allowed.

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Employees of Reeves Brothers and Shellrock LLC, all of Port Norris, N.J., were convicted following a 7-week trial in Camden on charges including creating false records, trafficking in illegally possessed oysters, obstructing the Food and Drug Administration's regulation of public health and safety, and conspiring to commit those crimes and obstruct justice, federal authorities said.

Also convicted were officials from Harbor House Seafood in Seaford, Del.

Prosecutors say Reeves Brothers over-harvested its quota between 2004 and 2009 and Harbor House helped hide the catches.

Federal authorities say the extra oysters had a value of more than $600,000.

 

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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