Three Delaware Bay fishermen and a seafood wholesaler who have played a role in reviving New Jersey’s oyster industry are among those indicted by a federal grand jury in Camden on charges of falsifying catch records and selling illegally harvested oysters.
Oystermen Thomas Reeves and Todd Reeves, owners of Reeves Brothers in Port Norris, and company employee Renee Reeves are charged with falsifying reports of oyster landings between 2004 and 2007 to show the company took in fewer shellfish than it actually did, according to the indictment unsealed Tuesday.
Also charged in the indictment is Mark Bryan of New Market, Md., co-owner of Harbor House Seafood based in Seaford, Del., and Pamela Meloney of Secretary, Md. who works for Harbor House.
That company operates a shucking plant in Port Norris, and the indictment charges that Harbor House helped conceal the size of Reeves Brothers’ harvests by falsifying its records of how many oysters it purchased from the fishermen.
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