CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – The owner of a Maine seafood company has pleaded guilty to shipping potentially dangerous shellfish out of state in 2003 at a time when his license was suspended because authorities said the water to wash the seafood at his plant was unclean.
Sixty-six-year-old Karl Crute of Cushing, Maine, pleaded guilty Friday in federal court in Concord to the misdemeanor charge, reached as part of a plea deal with the government.
Crute and the company, Kip’s Seafood, were originally indicted on two felony counts of conspiring to transport and sell interstate commerce shellfish as well as shipping and selling it.
Crute will be on probation for one year and fined $10,000.
He was accused of getting interstate certification tags from a competitor for his shipment. All shellfish is required to have tags so authorities can track it back to where it was harvested.
The shipments of clams and mussels were sent to the Boston area, Chicago, Virginia, Maryland, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York.
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