December 4, 2019 — It turns out that it was Carlos Rafael himself who opened the door to the civil and criminal investigations that resulted in his exile from the commercial fishing industry and his current residency at the FMC Devens federal prison.
In January 2015, angered by cuts to his portion of federal groundfish disaster relief, Rafael publicly railed against the process and said he planned to sell his more than 40 vessels and the approximately 60 federal fishing permits attached to them.
And with that, according to a NOAA Office of Law Enforcement presentation Tuesday to the New England Fishery Management Council on the criminal case against Rafael, five federal law enforcement agencies saw their opening.
They began widespread undercover investigations that ultimately led to Rafael’s indictment and conviction in November 2017 for fisheries reporting violations, tax evasion and bulk smuggling.
“We took this as an opportunity to reach out to Carlos Rafael as interested buyers,” said OLE Special Agent Troy Audyatis. “We caught him using his own words.”