On March 10, 2014, Kyle Basoukas of Bedford, N.H., pleaded guilty in Portsmouth District Court to multiple charges related to a stolen lobster gear investigation. During the summer of 2013, New Hampshire Fish and Game Conservation Officers began investigating several complaints of missing lobster gear from both commercial and recreational lobster fishermen. After a lengthy and time-consuming investigation, Basoukas was eventually arrested for multiple marine-related offenses.
At the hearing this week, Basoukas pleaded guilty to Receiving Stolen Property and Molesting Lobster Gear. He was sentenced to 90 days in the House of Corrections, suspended, pending good behavior for one year.
Basoukas also pleaded guilty to 133 separate violations, ranging from illegal escape panels on lobster traps to uncompliant Whale entanglement gear. He will have to pay more than $11,000 in fines and has lost the privilege of obtaining a lobster license for up to five years.
Then age 21, Basoukas was arrested on November 11, 2013, following a three-month investigation by Fish and Game Law Enforcement. Fish and Game Conservation Officers had seized 81 lobster traps, of which 49 were determined to have been stolen property.
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