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Man gets 9 days for poaching at sanctuary
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Posted on Jun 09 2008
Superior Court Associate Judge Ramona V. Manglona has imposed a nine-day prison term on a man who took fish and lobster from a sanctuary area in Marpi.
Manglona sentenced Shun Jin Mo to six months in prison, all suspended except for the first nine days. The judge gave Mo credit for the nine days he has already served in jail.
Manglona placed the defendant on six months unsupervised probation and required him to pay a $25 court assessment fee.
Mo was one of two men caught getting fish and lobster from the sanctuary.
Manglona said the Legislature’s purpose of creating a sanctuary to be used to gradually and naturally repopulate the depopulated areas of the lagoon must be enforced in order to protect the islands’ limited and precious resources.
“This enforcement was promptly made when the defendants were arrested at the scene, and this defendant [Mo] has acknowledged the wrongfulness on his conduct through his guilty plea,” said Manglona in her written order issued yesterday.
Mo and Zhen Hua Guo were charged with taking wildlife in a sanctuary area.
Mo and his lawyer, assistant public defender Malik Edwards, signed a plea agreement with the government, represented by assistant attorney general Melissa Simms.
The defendant pleaded guilty.
In accepting the plea agreement, Manglona said it is a crime that does not involve the infliction of any bodily injury to another person or the damage of property of another person.
“It is nevertheless a crime because it is a conduct that the Commonwealth Legislature has deemed worthy of restricting for the benefit of the public interest in conserving and protecting our natural resources,” Manglona said.
The judge said Mo was found with fish and lobster at the Grotto Sanctuary in Marpi.
“There was no suggestion that the defendant did this to provide for his personal sustenance in order to survive,” Manglona said.
Mo’s co-defendant, Guo, entered a guilty plea in April 2008. Manglona handed down the same sentence on Guo.
The government charged Guo and Mo after a Fish and Wildlife conservation officer caught them taking fish and lobster from the Grotto sanctuary on March 12, 2008.
