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August 12, 2010A Chauvin man was charged Thursday with allegedly falsifying trip ticket information in a BP America claim, agents with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement Division reported.
Agents said Jessie Lambas, 58, allegedly falsified trip ticket documents dated from May and June of 2009 in order to file a claim with BP America in connection with the Transocean Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Lambas was charged with three felonies for filing false public records, injuring public records and theft by fraud. LDWF agents said the trip tickets were filed with the agency on May 27 and represented 5,644 pounds of shrimp with a value of $10,237.50. Lambas told agents he’d received three payments from BP America, totaling $3,000, from May 24 to July 14.
Agents met with Lambas in July after receiving a complaint from BP America that the Chauvin man did not have a commercial fishing license in 2009.
The LDWF said Lambas does have a wholesale/retail seafood dealer’s license that allows him access to trip tickets.
Lambas told agents he filed trip tickets in 2010, but the department does not have any record of such activity, according to the arrest warrant. The warrant also claims that the trip tickets in question match the 50 trip tickets Lambas was issued in 2008.
If convicted, Lambas faces up to $5,000 in fines and five years in jail with or without hard labor for each charge of falsifying and injuring public records. The penalty for the fraud charge, if convicted, is up to a $10,000 fine and up to 10 years in jail with or without hard labor.
Lambas was booked Thursday at the East Baton Rouge Parish Jail.
“We want to ensure our commercial fishermen and dealers are compensated fairly by using accurate trip ticket information,” said Col. Winton Vidrine, head of LDWF’s Enforcement Division. “We do not want to see commercial fishermen or dealers tempted to commit felony violations by falsifying trip ticket documents.”
The LDWF routinely reviews trip tickets received from the commercial fishing industry to ensure accuracy.
LDWF officials said the reviews are critical to ensure that commercial fishermen and wholesale/retail dealers are appropriately credited with landings in the event of a disaster. The records because crucial during hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 and with the current BP America oil spill.
BP America is requesting landings information from 2007-10 from commercial fishermen to determine eligibility for financial aid. LDWF is able to provide commercial fishermen a landings data report upon request to help with the process.
“The information provided on a trip ticket is the best way for the department to establish the value of Louisiana fisheries and the importance of those fisheries to the nation. Trip ticket data also plays a key role in the managing of fisheries in Louisiana to ensure sustainability,” said Michelle Kasprzak, LDWF Trip Ticket Program administrator. “We ask that trip tickets be completed accurately and submitted on time as required. Inaccurate or embellished trip tickets will be investigated by the department’s Law Enforcement Division.”
Trip tickets are filled out at the first point of sale between a commercial fisherman and wholesale/retail dealer or fresh product license holder and are due on the 10th of every month. Trip tickets are then entered into LDWFs Trip Ticket Program’s database.
Commercial fishermen and wholesale/retail dealers may request their trip ticket landings by following the instructions on the LDWF website at www.wlf.louisiana.gov/oilspill or calling the trip ticket section at (225) 765-2399.
