After a three-year investigation that included Grand Jury testimonies, two people with the now defunct Fountain Seafood. Inc of Cameron, Louisiana have been sentenced to jail time and fines. They were sentenced for illegally harvesting and selling oysters and violating the federal Lacey Act which regulates interstate commerce. Their sentences were pronounced on January 25, 2001, by Federal District Judge James Trimble of the Lake Charles Court.
Roosevelt Fountain Senior was sentenced to 30 months in jail and a $1,400 Crime Victims assessment (a fund in Louisiana that aids crime victims). His daughter and the bookkeeper for the company, Shirley Fountain Ellison, was sentenced to 37 months in jail and a $1,500 Crime Victims assessment. The inactive Fountain Seafood, Inc. was fined $5,000. In a eight-day jury trial in August 2000, Fountain Sr. was convicted of 13 of 14 felony Lacey Act violations. Ellison was convicted of 15 of 16 felony Lacey Act violations and was found guilty of Obstruction of Justice for turning over known false records to law enforcement agents and to the Grand Jury. The number of violations for which they were convicted corresponded with the number of non-resident dealers they utilized.
"We are proud of all the work that our Law Enforcement agents accomplished while working cooperatively with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries
