CAPE CORAL, Fla. — Mark E. Zywotko 47, has pleaded guilty to four counts of mail fraud.
Zywotko faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison for each count.
According to the plea agreement, from January 2013 through December 2017, Zywotko perpetrated a scheme to overharvest more than 50,000 pounds of Gulf reef fish from the waters off Southwest Florida.
These illegally-caught fish were worth more than $286,000.
Zywotko knowingly and illegally harvested, landed, and sold federally-regulated Gulf Reef Fish, including red grouper and red snapper, and
submitted false documents, via the U.S. Mail, to state and federal agencies to conceal his overfishing.
A sentencing date has not yet been set.
