United States of America v. OCEANPRO INDUSTRIES, LTD., d/b/a Profish, Ltd., No. 10-5239 

PUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
OCEANPRO INDUSTRIES, LTD., d/b/a
Profish, Ltd., No. 10-5239 
Defendant-Appellant.
STATE OF MARYLAND,
Amicus Supporting Appellee. 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
BENJAMIN PAUL CLOUGH, III, No. 10-5284 Defendant-Appellant.
STATE OF MARYLAND,
Amicus Supporting Appellee. 

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 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
TIMOTHY JOHN LYDON, No. 10-5285 Defendant-Appellant.
STATE OF MARYLAND,
Amicus Supporting Appellee. 
Appeals from the United States District Court
for the District of Maryland, at Greenbelt.
Peter J. Messitte, Senior District Judge.
(8:09-cr-00634-PJM-1; 8:09-cr-00634-PJM-3;
8:09-cr-00634-PJM-2)
Argued: December 9, 2011
Decided: March 23, 2012
Before NIEMEYER, KING, and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by published opinion. Judge Niemeyer wrote the
opinion, in which Judge King and Judge Duncan joined.
COUNSEL
ARGUED: Daniel Saleem Seikaly, Sr., ANDREWS &
KURTH, LLP, Washington, D.C.; Richard Wyrough, Wal-
dorf, Maryland, for Appellants. John Luther Smeltzer,
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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washing-
ton, D.C., for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Robert Dreher, Acting
Assistant Attorney General, Wayne D. Hettenbach, UNITED
STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C.,
for Appellee. Douglas F. Gansler, Attorney General, Balti-
more, Maryland, Paul J. Cucuzzella, Assistant Attorney Gen-
eral, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, Annapolis,
Maryland, for Amicus Supporting Appellee.
OPINION
NIEMEYER, Circuit Judge:
Oceanpro Industries, Ltd., doing business as "Profish, Ltd."
("Oceanpro"), a seafood wholesaler in the District of Colum-
bia, and two Oceanpro employees, Timothy Lydon (officer
and fish buyer) and Benjamin Clough, III (fish buyer), were
convicted for purchasing untagged and oversized striped bass,
in violation of the Lacey Act, 16 U.S.C. § 3372(a)(2)(A) (pro-
hibiting the purchase in interstate commerce of fish or wild-
life sold in violation of state law). Oceanpro and Clough were
also convicted for giving a false statement to federal law
enforcement officers during the course of the investigation of
the crimes, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001. In addition to
imposing fines and prison sentences, the district court ordered
the three defendants, jointly and severally, to pay Maryland
and Virginia $300,000 in restitution, to be divided equally
between the States.
On appeal, Oceanpro and Clough challenge the District of
Maryland’s venue for the false statement offense because the
false statement was made at the offices of Oceanpro in the
District of Columbia, not in Maryland. In addition, all of the
defendants contend that the order of restitution to the States
was improper because the States did not have a sufficient
interest in the illegally caught fish so as to make them "vic-
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tims," as is required for receiving the benefit of a restitution
order.
We reject both arguments, concluding that venue for the
false statement charge was proper in the District of Maryland
and that Maryland and Virginia’s interest in striped bass was
sufficient to make the States "victims" and therefore to justify
an award to them of restitution. Accordingly, we affirm.
I
Oceanpro is a seafood wholesaler operating in the District
of Columbia. Timothy Lydon was part owner and vice-
president of Oceanpro, and Benjamin Clough was an
employee during the period from 2001 through 2007. Both
were responsible for purchasing striped bass from commercial
fishermen for Oceanpro’s resale to restaurants and other cus-
tomers.
The striped bass, commonly called "rockfish," is a highly
prized fish for both eating and sport fishing. It is regulated in
the main stem of the Potomac River by the Potomac River
Fish Commission (comprised of commissioners from both
Maryland and Virginia) and in the other waters of Maryland
and Virginia by the States, respectively. During the 1980s,
when the stock of striped bass was depleted, all harvesting of
the fish was prohibited. But beginning in 1995, when the
stock had been restored, commercial fishing for striped bass
was reopened, subject to restrictions consisting of seasonal
closures, size limits, and harvest quotas. To protect spawning
fish, Maryland prohibited the harvesting of striped bass
between March 25 and June 1, and Virginia restricted harvest-
ing during the same period to fish between 18 and 28 inches
in size. Also, both States imposed annual catch quotas, which
were enforced by the requirement to tag all fish.
Following an investigation into the illegal harvesting of
striped bass, Oceanpro, Lydon, and Clough were indicted in
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four counts, charging in Count One, conspiracy to violate the
Lacey Act, and in Counts Two, Three, and Four, the substan-
tive acts of purchasing untagged and oversized fish during
specified periods. Oceanpro and Clough were charged in
Count Five for making the following false statement, which
was signed and under oath, to investigators: "During my
employment with Oceanpro, I have never purchased untagged
striped bass from Jerry Decatur [,Sr.] or Jerry Decatur, Jr."
The indictment alleged that Oceanpro and Clough had in fact
knowingly purchased untagged striped bass from the Decaturs
on numerous occasions.
Before trial, Oceanpro and Clough unsuccessfully chal-
lenged the venue of the false statement count on the ground
that the false statement was made at Oceanpro’s offices in the
District of Columbia, and not in Maryland where Oceanpro
and Clough were indicted.
A jury convicted all three defendants on all counts charged.
With respect to Counts Two through Four, the jury convicted
Clough for lesser included offenses based on his lesser
involvement. The government established during trial that
during the period from 1995 to May 2007, Oceanpro pur-
chased 213,703 pounds of striped bass that were illegally har-
vested in Maryland and Virginia. While Lydon was involved
in buying striped bass during the entire period, Clough was a
buyer for Oceanpro only between 2001 and 2007, and during
that period, Oceanpro purchased 157,361 pounds of illegally
harvested striped bass. Based on a market value of four dol-
lars per pound, the government calculated that Oceanpro and
Lydon were responsible for purchasing $854,812 worth of
illegally caught striped bass and Clough, for $629,444 worth.
The district court sentenced Oceanpro to a fine of
$575,000, and Lydon and Clough to terms of imprisonment of
21 months and 15 months, respectively. Additionally, the
court imposed a $60,000 fine on Lydon and a $7,500 fine on
Clough. Finally, the court ordered that all three defendants,
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jointly and severally, pay $300,000 in restitution to Maryland
and Virginia, to be divided equally between the States. Com-
pliance with the restitution order was also made a condition
of probation for Oceanpro and a condition of supervised
release for the two individuals.
From judgments entered on November 30, 2010, the defen-
dants appealed. Oceanpro and Clough challenge the venue of
the false statement charge in Count Five, and all three defen-
dants challenge the restitution order.
II. Venue
Federal law enforcement officers visited Oceanpro’s place
of business on Fenwick Street in Washington, D.C., on
August 29, 2007, to execute a search warrant and serve a
grand jury subpoena in connection with their investigation of
trafficking in illegally caught striped bass. They also inter-
viewed Clough, who gave a signed statement under oath,
which included: "During my employment with OceanPro, I
have never purchased untagged striped bass from Jerry Deca-
tur [,Sr.] or Jerry Decatur, Jr." As found by the jury, this state-
ment was false and Clough knew it. The evidence showed that
Clough, acting on behalf of Oceanpro, purchased untagged
striped bass that were harvested in the Potomac River in
Maryland from the Decaturs on numerous occasions. These
facts formed the basis for the jury’s conviction of Oceanpro
and Clough on Count Five for violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001.
Oceanpro and Clough contend that because Clough’s state-
ment was made in Oceanpro’s offices in the District of
Columbia, the crime was committed entirely in the District of
Columbia, and therefore venue for the crime was inappropri-
ate in the District of Maryland. They rely on the Supreme
Court’s statement in United States v. Cabrales, 524 U.S. 1, 6-
7 (1998), that for purposes of determining venue, "[t]he locus
delicti must be determined from the nature of the crime
alleged and the location of the act or acts constituting it."
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Relying on United States v. Bowens, 224 F.3d 302, 314 (4th
Cir. 2000), the government contends that venue is also proper
in Maryland because the effects of the false statement, based
on the materiality requirement, were essential to the offense
and were felt in Maryland by the Maryland-based investiga-
tion.
Proper venue is, of course, a constitutional right. Article III
requires that "[t]he Trial of all Crimes . . . shall be held in the
State where the said Crimes shall have been committed," U.S.
Const. art. III, § 2, cl. 3, and the Sixth Amendment reinforces
this command by mandating that "[i]n all criminal prosecu-
tions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public
trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the
crime shall have been committed," U.S. Const. amend. VI.
These constitutional mandates are codified in Federal Rule of
Criminal Procedure 18, which provides that "the government
must prosecute an offense in a district where the offense was
committed." See also United States v. Rodriguez-Moreno, 526
U.S. 275, 278 (1999).
When a criminal statute does not contain an express venue
provision, the place of the crime, its locus delicti, controls
venue, and the place of the crime "must be determined from
the nature of the crime alleged and the location of the act or
acts constituting it." Cabrales, 524 U.S. at 6-7. The Supreme
Court has set forth a two-part test for making this determina-
tion: "In performing this inquiry, a court must initially iden-
tify the conduct constituting the offense (the nature of the
crime) and then discern the location of the commission of the
criminal acts." Rodriguez-Moreno, 526 U.S. at 279.
We interpreted Rodgriguez-Moreno in Bowens, refining its
rubrics by holding that the "circumstance" elements of an
offense, even if essential, are of "no moment" to a venue
determination. "[T]he place where a criminal offense is com-
mitted is determined solely by the essential conduct elements
of that offense." Bowens, 224 F.3d at 310-11 (emphasis
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added). But Bowens recognized that Congress had the power
to "define the essential conduct elements of a criminal offense
in terms of their effects, thus providing venue where those
effects are felt." Id. at 312 (emphasis added).
Accordingly, we begin the analysis by turning to 18 U.S.C.
§ 1001 to determine what are the crime’s "essential conduct
elements." Section 1001 punishes "whoever, in any matter
within the jurisdiction of the executive . . . branch of the
[United States], knowingly and willfully . . . makes any mate-
rially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representa-
tion." A conviction under § 1001 thus requires that the
government prove (1) that a defendant made a "materially
false . . . statement," (2) that the statement was made "in [a]
matter within the jurisdiction" of the United States, and (3)
that the statement was made "knowingly and willfully."
In reviewing the statutory elements of § 1001, the Supreme
Court has noted that the requirement that the statement be "in
any matter within the jurisdiction" of a federal agency is "ju-
risdictional language [that] appears in a phrase separate from
the prohibited conduct" and is simply a "predicate circum-
stance" of the prohibited conduct. United States v. Yermian,
468 U.S. 63, 69 (1984). Similarly, the mens rea requirement
would be a circumstance element that does not contribute to
determining the locus delicti of the crime. See Bowens, 224
F.3d at 313. Thus, the essential conduct prohibited by the stat-
ute is "making any materially false statement."
While Oceanpro and Clough recognize that venue is appro-
priate where "the effects of the defendant’s conduct are felt
. . . when Congress has defined the essential conduct elements
in terms of those effects," Bowens, 224 F.3d at 314 (emphasis
added), they argue that the requirement that a false statement
be material is merely a circumstance of the offense, not an
effect of conduct sufficient to indicate venue.
But in making their argument that materiality is not rele-
vant to venue for a § 1001 offense, Oceanpro and Clough
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have interpreted our case law too narrowly. Bowens recog-
nized that when statutory language merely "defines the requi-
site intent for an offense," or makes an offense dependent on
proof of an antecedent crime, that language will not support
venue. Bowens, 224 F.3d at 313. But where, as here, the
essential conduct constituting the offense inherently refer-
ences the effects of that conduct, "venue is proper in the dis-
trict where those prescribed effects would be felt":
[I]n a prosecution under the Hobbs Act, venue is
proper in any district where commerce is affected
because the terms of the statute itself forbid affecting
commerce in particular ways. Similarly, a former
version of 18 U.S.C. § 1503 prohibited influencing,
intimidating, or impeding a witness or influencing,
obstructing, or impeding the administration of jus-
tice. Because the essential conduct elements were
defined not just in terms of the forbidden act, i.e.,
"assault" or "retaliate," but rather in terms of their
effects (intimidation of a witness or obstruction of
the administration of justice), venue was proper in
the district where those proscribed effects would be
felt.
Id. (citations omitted).
Thus, just as Congress defined the effects of conduct in the
Hobbs Act and 18 U.S.C. § 1503, it defined the effects in
§ 1001 to include the element of materiality. And in this case,
proving materiality necessarily requires evidence of the exis-
tence of the federal investigation in Maryland and the poten-
tial effects of Clough’s statement on that investigation. See
United States v. Garcia-Ochoa, 607 F.3d 371, 375 (4th Cir.
2010) ("The test of materiality is whether the false statement
has a natural tendency to influence agency action or is capable
of influencing agency action" (emphasis added)). Accord-
ingly, we conclude that the District of Maryland had a sub-
stantial connection to Clough’s conduct and to the charges
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based on that conduct against him and Oceanpro. See United
States v. Ringer, 300 F.3d 788, 792 (7th Cir. 2002) ("Since
the halting of the investigation against Ringers’ friends in the
Southern District of Indiana was evidence of the materiality
of Ringer’s statements, venue was proper in the Southern Dis-
trict of Indiana"); United States v. Salinas, 373 F.3d 161, 167
(1st Cir. 2004) ("When materiality is a critical component of
the statutory definition, it makes perfect sense to consider the
crime as continuing into the district in which the effects of the
false statement are felt"); but see United States v. Smith, 641
F.3d 1200, 1208 (10th Cir. 2011) (finding venue only where
false statement was made).
For these reasons, we hold that venue for the § 1001 charge
was proper in the District of Maryland.
III. Restitution
At sentencing, the district court ordered the defendants,
jointly and severally, to pay $300,000 in restitution to the
States of Maryland and Virginia as compensation for the
striped bass that had been illegally harvested from their
waters and sold to Oceanpro during the conspiracy. This
amount was below the stipulated market value of the fish ille-
gally caught and sold—$854,812 with respect to Oceanpro
and Lydon, and $629,445 with respect to Clough. While the
court did not cite authority for awarding restitution, it did
order the defendants to pay restitution jointly and severally,
and it also made compliance with its restitution order a condi-
tion of probation for Oceanpro and of supervised release for
Lydon and Clough.
Oceanpro, Lydon, and Clough contend that the district
court lacked authority to order any restitution because there
was no "victim" in this case entitled to restitution under the
Mandatory Victims’ Restitution Act of 1996 ("MVRA"), 18
U.S.C. § 3663A. They argue specifically that Maryland and
Virginia were not victims under the MVRA because the
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States’ interests in the striped bass within their waters was
regulatory rather than proprietary, and the MVRA requires
restitution, as relevant here, for convictions on offenses
against a victim’s property. 18 U.S.C. § 3663A(c)(1)(A)(ii).
The government contends that regardless of whether the
States had a proprietary interest in the illegally caught striped
bass, restitution was nonetheless authorized by other statutes.
It argues that the States were "victims" under the Victim Wit-
ness Protection Act of 1982 ("VWPA"), 18 U.S.C.
§ 3663(a)(2), because their interests in the striped bass were
"harmed," and therefore they were entitled to restitution under
that Act. It also argues that the States were properly awarded
restitution as a condition of probation and supervised release
under 18 U.S.C. §§ 3563(b)(2) and 3583(d), because they
were also "victims" under those statutes. Even under the
MVRA, the government contends that the States were "vic-
tims" because, it argues, they obtained a proprietary interest
in the illegally caught striped bass by reason of the States’
forfeiture laws.
The State of Maryland, as an amicus supporting the govern-
ment’s position, asserts that it is a "victim" for purposes of
restitution under both the MVRA by virtue of its property
interest in illegally caught striped bass and the VWPA by vir-
tue of the harm to its interests as trustee of the striped bass
within its waters.
Although the defendants devoted almost their entire argu-
ment to whether the States have a proprietary interest in the
striped bass while swimming freely in the waters of Maryland
and Virginia, they did not respond to the government’s reli-
ance on the VWPA and the statutory provisions authorizing
restitution as a condition of probation or supervised release.
Those provisions authorize restitution to "victims" of crime in
Title 18 and other specified crimes, each defining "victim"
slightly differently.
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The VWPA defines victim as a person "directly and proxi-
mately harmed as a result of the commission of an offense for
which restitution may be ordered." See 18 U.S.C. § 3663(a)(2)
(emphasis added). This is a broad definition, requiring the
victim to have some interest that was "harmed." Even if
Maryland and Virginia did not have a property interest in the
striped bass, they surely did possess a legitimate and substan-
tial interest in protecting the fish in their waters as part of the
natural resources of the State and its fishing industries. And
these interests were undoubtedly "directly and proximately
harmed" as a result of the illegal harvesting of the striped
bass. See United States v. Gibbens, 25 F.3d 28, 32 (1st Cir.
1994) ("[A] government entity (local, state or federal) may be
a ‘victim’ for purposes of the VWPA (and may be awarded
restitution) when it has passively suffered harm resulting
directly from the defendant’s criminal conduct"). Nothing in
the VWPA precludes a court from ordering restitution to com-
pensate States for the type of harm suffered here.
The analysis for ordering restitution as a condition of pro-
bation and supervised release is similar. To award restitution
to Maryland or Virginia as a condition of probation, the States
must be considered "victims" within the meaning of 18 U.S.C.
§ 3563(b)(2). But that section specifically indicates that the
restitution to a "victim of the offense" for purposes of proba-
tion is "not subject to the limitation of" the VWPA, indicating
that the definition of "victim" in this context is even broader
than the definition of "victim" under the VWPA. The district
court’s restitution order was therefore appropriate on this
basis alone. See United States v. Batson, 608 F.3d 630, 636
(9th Cir. 2010) ("[A] district court is . . . authorized by
§ 3563(b)(2) to order restitution as a condition of probation to
the victim of any criminal offense . . . for which probation is
properly imposed"). And the same analysis applies for order-
ing restitution as a condition of supervised release. See 18
U.S.C. § 3583(d) (adopting by reference 18 U.S.C.
§ 3563(b)(2) to govern the ordering of restitution as a condi-
tion of supervised release). See Batson, 608 F.3d at 633.
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Finally, even under the MVRA, which requires that the
States have a proprietary interest in the fish, the States were
entitled to restitution, not based on the States’ interests in the
free swimming fish in their waters, but based on their propri-
etary interest in illegally caught fish obtained through the
States’ forfeiture laws.
The MVRA, when applicable, mandates that a sentencing
court order restitution. See 18 U.S.C. §§ 3663A(a)(1), 3556.
By its terms, the MVRA provides, as relevant here, that it
applies in sentencings for convictions on any "offense against
property," requiring the restitution order to require the return
of the property to its owner or, if that is "impossible, impracti-
cal, or inadequate," the payment to the owner of an amount
equal to the "value of the property." Id. § 3663A(b)(1).
Relying on United States v. Bengis, 631 F.3d 33 (2d Cir.
2011), the government contends that Maryland and Virginia
obtained a proprietary interest in the striped bass at the
moment they were illegally caught for later sale to Oceanpro
because at that moment, they were, under state law, forfeited
to the States. In Bengis, the court concluded that restitution
for illegally harvested lobsters was mandated under the
MVRA because, under South African law, illegally harvested
lobsters were forfeited to the state. Id. at 39-42. As the Second
Circuit explained, the moment the fishermen illegally har-
vested a lobster, the ownership of that lobster vested with the
state because "lobsters possessed in violation of the regulatory
scheme [did] not become property of the possessors[;] rather
they [were] subject to seizure and sale by the government of
South Africa." Id. at 39. "Evading seizure of overharvested
lobsters thus deprive[d] South Africa of an opportunity to sell
those illegally captured lobsters at market price and retain the
proceeds, representing an economic loss to South Africa each
time an illegally harvested lobster [went] unseized." Id. The
government in this case argues that the same reasons apply
here. Just as South African law authorized the seizure and sale
of the illegally harvested lobsters, Maryland and Virginia law
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authorize the States’ seizure and sale of illegally harvested
striped bass. See Md. Code Ann., Nat. Res. § 4-1205; Va.
Code Ann. § 28.2-900; 4 Va. Admin. Code 20-252-160.I.
The defendants argue that the situation here is different
from that in Bengis because the Lacey Act has its own forfei-
ture provisions for the illegal harvesting of fish, providing for
the forfeiture to the United States of the fish. It argues that the
United States’ rights to the fish flow from its regulatory inter-
ests, not its proprietary interests. For the same reason, they
argue that the States’ rights in forfeiture result from the
States’ regulatory interests, not their proprietary interests.
The defendants’ argument, however, fails to distinguish
Bengis, which was also brought under the Lacey Act. More-
over, their argument fails to address the logic of Bengis. In
Bengis, the Second Circuit recognized a proprietary interest in
the lobsters only after the lobsters were caught in violation of
state laws. The circumstances here are identical. In both cases,
the criminal actions were brought under the Lacey Act and
both involved the illegal catch of fish (lobsters in Bengis and
striped bass here), which became subject to seizure and sale
by the state.
Finding Bengis persuasive, we conclude that Maryland and
Virginia also had a proprietary interest in the illegally har-
vested striped bass after they were caught, so as to entitle
them to restitution under the MVRA. Cf. United States v.
Newsome, 322 F.3d 328, 340-42 (4th Cir. 2003) (finding the
federal government to be a victim under the MVRA and
ordering restitution for illegally harvesting black cherry trees
in a national forest).
In conclusion, we hold that the restitution award in this
case was proper under any of the restitution provisions
advanced—the MVRA, the VWPA, and as a condition of pro-
bation and supervised release—because, under the applicable
statutory provisions, the district court was authorized to
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require the defendants to make restitution to "victims." To
qualify as victims, Maryland and Virginia need not even have
been "owners" of the striped bass, although they were after
the fish were illegally caught; they merely had to have inter-
ests that were "harmed" as a result of the defendants’ criminal
conduct. Because we have concluded that their interests were
indeed harmed, the States were victims and therefore properly
awarded restitution.
AFFIRMED
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