It was a year ago today that a federal inspector general exposed how a law enforcement bureau inside the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had, for many years, been using the badge to extract exorbitant fines and weaken the commercial fishing fleet.
Yet, while key NOAA enforcement officials have been removed from their roles, no one has been punished, and a number of those at the center of the scandal have been shifted to different positions, to the consternation of fishing industry backers and lawmakers alike.
"This is a civics lesson for all Americans," said attorney Stephen Ouellette, who documented the problems in a letter to Congress that went unheeded a decade ago.
At the center of the case was Dale J. Jones, the longtime director of law enforcement for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the policing and litigation offices of the agency here in Gloucester where the offenses were concentrated.
Subsequent reports from Commerce Department Inspector General Todd Zinser in March and September brought more clear evidence that the agents together with the litigators were using and enjoying the ill-gotten gains.
Proceeds from NOAA's Asset Forfeiture Fund — nearly $50 million over 41/2 years — was accumulated and used without clear accounting or oversight, to purchase a fleet of boats and vehicles, finance overseas travel to exotic destinations, Kuala Lumpur, Mozambique, Trondheim, Norway, for international fisheries conventions and fund the day-to-day operations of the Office of Enforcement and Litigation.
Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.