The lobsters were undersized, and cops say they caught two suspects in the act

Two Broward County men were booked into jail in the Keys after a state wildlife officer watched as they speared three undersized spiny lobsters just offshore in Islamorada, according to police.

Rodrigo Cespedes-Trujillo, 31, of Lauderhill, and Diego Cespedes-Trujillo, 35, of Plantation, were released on a bond of $13,500 each Sunday after being arrested Saturday on three charges each of spearing lobster, three counts each of keeping undersized lobsters, and a count each of lobster fishing out of season, spearfishing in the Upper Keys and spearfishing within 100 yards of a bridge.

All the charges are misdemeanors.

A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer watched the two men for about two hours as they swam and speared the lobsters, and then placed them inside a cooler. They were on the south end of the Whale Harbor Channel Bridge in Windley Key, according to FWC Investigator Paul Hein’s report.

When the men were on land, Hein walked up to them and asked them if they had any luck fishing, he stated in his report. They responded that they didn’t catch anything. He then asked them if the cooler was theirs, and they said it was not, according to his report.

Hein told them he watched them spear the lobsters and place them in the cooler. They maintained they didn’t catch anything. They said one of their wives picked up their belongings and moved them closer to the cooler, which they said was left by somebody else, according to Hein’s report.

Hein opened the cooler and saw three lobsters, “well under” the legal size of more than three inches on the carapace (the part that doesn’t include the tail), and each had been obviously speared, which is illegal, the officer stated in the report.

Rodrigo Cespedes-Trujillo’s wife told Hein that her husband was scared and lied to him. She said the cooler belonged to them and that both men caught the lobsters, according to the report.

There were other fish in the cooler as well, including a barracuda, a mullet and a spadefish, Hein wrote in his report.

This story was originally published April 29, 2019 at 5:28 PM with the headline "The lobsters were undersized, and cops say they caught two suspects in the act."