Louisiana residents cited for illegal seafood sales and training certificate fraud

Three residents of Houma, Louisiana, are facing numerous citations following an investigation by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries into illegal seafood sales. The probe, centered in Terrebonne Parish, revealed that raw seafood—including oysters, blue crabs, and various fish species—was being sold primarily through social media and shipped monthly to North Carolina in violation of state laws.

Ana Reyna Beiza Lopez and Juan Rebollar Aguilar received the majority of the citations. Their charges include exporting crab products without shipping licenses, selling seafood without fresh product licenses, violating interstate commerce regulations, and failing to maintain required records. Additional citations involve possessing untagged oysters, taking spotted seatrout without permits, and attempting to sell undersized fish. Aguilar also faces allegations of conspiracy and processing marine products in unapproved facilities.

Furthermore, investigators discovered that Aguilar and Izhar Rebollar-Beiza illegally produced fraudulent certificates for the ‘Best Practices for Oyster Harvester Course,’ a mandatory training program for commercial harvesters. Rebollar-Beiza was cited for computer fraud and filing false public records, with computer fraud carrying potential penalties of up to five years in jail and a $10,000 fine.