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Jun 29, 10 2:25 PM
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moreDaniel Lester became the second East Hampton Town harbormaster to be arrested this month, after he was charged on January 25 by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Marine Environmental Police with two felony and five misdemeanor counts of illegal fishing.
Mr. Lester, a member of one of the oldest fishing families in East Hampton, first got caught in the DEC’s crosshairs in June, when he was found taking summer flounder commercially without a permit from pound traps that he’d placed in Gardiner’s Bay on the north side of Hither Hills State Park in Montauk. At the time, he pled guilty to fishing commercially without a permit and was fined $500, but the charge led the DEC to examine Mr. Lester’s fishing records in more detail, said DEC spokeswoman Aphrodite Montalvo this week.
Mr. Lester was charged with one felony and one misdemeanor count of taking scup, which is also commonly known as porgy, during the closed season in 2008, and with one felony and two misdemeanor counts of selling summer flounder in 2009 without a commercial summer flounder permit. He was also charged with two misdemeanor counts of sale of summer flounder without a commercial permit in 2008.
The many charges are due to the fact that Mr. Lester allegedly sold varying quantities of fish to different dealers on different dates at the New Fulton Fish Market in the Bronx, according to the DEC. Sale of more than $1,500 worth of fish constitutes a felony.
The felony charges carry a penalty of $10,000 and/or more than one year in prison and the misdemeanor counts carry a charge of $5,000 or one year in prison.
Ms. Montalvo said that Mr. Lester is expected to face an additional felony charge for the sale of $4,700 worth of summer flounder in 2007 without the summer flounder permit when he is arraigned in East Hampton Town Justice Court on February 24. Mr. Lester was released on his own recognizance after he was given appearance tickets on January 25.
Mr. Lester is the second East Hampton Town harbormaster to be arrested this month. Senior Harbormaster Don Bousson was arrested on January 4 after police said they found half a pound of marijuana in his car. He was charged with criminal possession of marijuana in the third degree. Mr. Bousson resigned from his town post before the town could begin disciplinary proceedings against him.
Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson declined to comment on Mr. Lester’s case. He has said since the beginning of his term that he plans to not comment on pending personnel matters. Pat Breen, the head of the town’s Human Resources Department, would also not comment on whether disciplinary proceedings would be brought against Mr. Lester.
Town Building Inspector Tom Preiato, who was arrested on January 16 after an altercation with the Sag Harbor Village Police, was suspended from work for seven days on January 22.
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Total comments by local: 64
Total comments by FONZSKE!: 22
Total comments by local: 64
Total comments by fishy: 52
Total comments by tigerbelle44: 2
Total comments by montaukman: 59
I would like to ask our local news reporters to put there focus on The Dongan Patent and uncover a very big story that is being overlooked. Do your research and write a great big front page article about the truth. Fishermen are among of the roots of our great town’s history. The State is setting license requirements and regulations on areas to which they have no rights. These regulations are not “saving fish” they are killing an age old trade and denying our local baymen the right to earn a living.
Put down your pitchforks folks – Mr. Lester is a fisherman, not a felon!
Total comments by Wife of a Bayman: 1
Total comments by fishy: 52
The Patent was a colonial charter that established the Trustees of the Freeholders and Commonalty of the Town of Easthampton as the government of the Town with sovereign jurisdiction not only over the fisheries but in the making, administering and enforcement of law.
The lands and waters included in the charter were ... more split pursuant to an 1851 court order leading to a deed to Montauk's proprietors being issued on March 9th, 1852 and their being incorporated by the State Assembly on April 2nd, 1852 establishing the Montauk Trustee corporation.
I worked closely with Stuart Bennett Vorpahl in a court action that we took all the way to the Court Appeals in Albany where interventon as or right on behalf of the Incorporated Township of Montauk was accepted by the court.
It is important to understand that the owners and inhabitants of land in the towns of Easthampton and Montauk not only have sovereign jurisdiction over our fisheries but also over our governance as well. The town board governments that the towns of Suffolk County were established pursuant to the unconstitutionl 1909 Town Law of the State of New York.
I think that New York is the Empire State due to the imperial conquest by the State government of the sovereign rights of us, its citizens. Our fifth case, the lengthy matter at law of Town of Montauk, Inc. vs. Hon. George E. Pataki, et.al., just concluded last year. Although there has been an almost complete press blackout on Montauk's cases the fishing rights cases are breaking through the haze.
Please read more at www.montauk.com, especially the December 2000 Articulated Rights and Constitution of the Township of Montauk. It builds upon the 1686 Dongan Patent and can be modified for use in Easthampton and all of the towns of Suffolk County.
Total comments by Robert A. Ficalora: 1
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