(Hill) – One of two Florida divers said he released 19 sharks and grouper from the longline and was convicted of theft after being forgiven by President Trump earlier this week.
“This is something I didn’t think I had,” John Moore Jr. said Tuesday as he had a copy of the pardon that Trump had signed.
The ship’s captain Moore Jr. and crew Tanner Munsell found out what they deemed illegal fishing line in 2020, three miles from Florida’s coast.
Authorities said the line is owned by fishermen licensed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to study sharks. Moore Jr. and Munsell were charged with property theft and were convicted in 2022. The two men were ordered to pay $3,343.72 in reparations, but they spent no time in prison.
Due to federal convictions, they were unable to travel freely outside the country and were not permitted to vote in the sunshine. Trump’s pardon now overturns the verdict.
Moore Jr. said he and his legal team did not contact the administration and demand any generosity.
“We didn’t reach out to the White House. We didn’t ask them for pardon because it was a kind of skip step, like we actually filed papers to bring this to the Supreme Court,” Moore Jr. said.
“I did something different because I found it to be a legal policy? I was a commercial fisherman. I will not touch the legal line.” Diver has been added. “But now I know more about this, there could be those.”
