cheap motel room in Vancouver, Washington. Expressoffice. Thepoachersthenleft,and the FBI
Much of thecaviarcame from sturgeon caught by agentssoonlost thetruck in traffic. Theagents re-
the poachers, and some of it was madefrom roeille- turned to the FederalExpressOfficeand spoke to a
gallypurchasedfromsport fishermen on the banks clerk who showed them theairbills and theboxes.
of the Columbia River. The poachers had paidthe Both boxeswereaddressed to acaviarcompany in
month’srent,approximately $ 900, incash, and NewJersey. TheFederalExpress clerk told the
thentold themotel manager thatthey did notwant agentsthat the man who shipped theboxeslooked
any maidservice. Themanager thought that the re- like a fisherman, andsmelled like fish.The FBI
quest forprivacy wasunusual, and became suspi- agentsthought that thecase was lookinglesslike a
cious. bankrobberywithevery new bit of information.
About the time thepoachers were checkinginto Without a search warrant,they could not look in-
the motel a bank robbery occurred innearby Dol- side the boxes, soafterrecording theinformation
larsCorner,Washington. Thebankrobbersescap- from theshipping labels, theboxeswereloaded on a
ed with a package of cashthat contained an explod- planebound for New Jersey.
ing dye pack. The packdetonated,spewing red ink In themeantime, themotel manager was con-
and stainingboth thecash and the thieves. cernedabout thepoachers’ unusual request for no
The day after the robberyanotherlocalbank re- roomservice and theFBI’sinterest inboth thecash
ceived a cash depositfrom themotel where the and themen.She took it uponherself toenter the
poachers hadrented the room. This deposit includ- roomwith apasskey. Shehad read that drugdealers
ed red dye stainedmoney. Thebank teller recog- sometime manufactured methamphetamines in
nized thestains on thebills as stains from thedye motels, and suspectedthat perhaps that wasoccur-
pack and notified theFBI. The FBIwent tothe mo- ring in hermotel. To her surprise,she found no drug
tel and asked themanagerwhereshe had obtained manufacturingparaphernalia, but lots offishing
the cash.Therewereonly two rooms paid for in gear, anoutboardengine, andbuckets ofbrine. She
cash, one ofwhichbelonged to the poachers. The latertestified in court that thewholeplace smelled
managerthentold the FBIabout hersuspicions. likefish.
The FBI immediatelybegan to conductsurveil- The FBI agentssoonrealizedthat thesuspects
lance of the poacher’sactivities, suspecting that were notinvolved in thebank robbery. Neverthe-
theywere the bank robbers. less,theiractions were strange for a couple of bud-
For the next fewdays the FBI agents hid in anear- dieswho were on afishing holiday. Theycontacted
by motel room and watched the suspectedrobbers the WashingtonDepartment ofFisheriesand the
through thewindow blinds. They looked like a pair National MarineFisheriesService, two agencies
of fishingbuddies,withtheirragged clothes and whospecialize in resourcerelatedcrimes.Thus be-
smallboattraileredbehind an old redpickuptruck. gan a twoyear investigation of an organized poach-
At one point, theagents observed one of the poach- ing ringthatspread from theColumbiaRiver to
ers deposit a bag oftrash in the motel dumpster. An NewJersey.
agentcasuallytook a look at the garbage,and found Evidence began totrickle in as a federalGrand
an emptysaltbox.Although the agent did notknow Jury inSeattleissuedmore than 30subpoenas for
it at the time, he had discovered animportantpiece records from telephone companies,banks, the ca-
of evidence; salt, of course, is amajoringredient in viarcompany, accountants, auditors and others. No
caviar. stone wasleftunturned; after obtaining one of the
The next day the fishermanleft themotelroom poachers’ one-gallonsizedshipping containers, the
with two largeboxes.They loaded theboxesinto agents contacted theplasticcompanythatmanufac-
the back of the red pickup truck and drove to a Fed- tured the jars toobtain alist ofeveryonewho had
eralExpressoffice inPortland, Oregon. Theagents everpurchasedthattype ofcontainer inquantity.
followed thetruck as it crossed thestateline, and The caviarmerchantprovided a few documents af-
watched the drivermail theboxes at the Federal ter they were demanded by subpoena,however, he
martin jones
(Martin Jones)
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